When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” 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 his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Less than 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has begun this season just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
