When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and representing England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I really needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking his development after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He made 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Less than 90 days after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”