Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden summons to the full England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as 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 trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his development after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost 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 making his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
