Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point 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 senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s best XI 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 think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within three months later, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
