Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the senior England team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I really needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“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 stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side 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 earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership 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, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
