Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for 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 boy.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth back was something I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack 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 ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
