Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring his development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.
He made 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally affected, 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 good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
