When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
He made eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming 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 equally as impressively for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
