When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His path in football has not been a typical 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 the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year 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 for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
