When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the senior England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
His path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was something I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors 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 came on as a second-half substitute in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth 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 picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
