When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott stated previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing 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 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 train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind 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 becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth again was something I really required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end 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 pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Less than three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
