When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was something I really required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 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 match at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent 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, remarked previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was almost another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
