Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Developing 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 the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill 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 reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
