When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood back was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”