When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a true blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s 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 feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“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 professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position 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 nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like yet another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
