When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
