Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the senior England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for England too,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island 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 him 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 hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was something I really needed.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, travelled back 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 sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
He made 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Within three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
