Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I really required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined 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 the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and versatility. 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 down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
