When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the full England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey 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 Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was shaping up as 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 went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
