Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That prediction proved to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that slice of youth back was something I definitely required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
