Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a true blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott stated previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. 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 earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within 90 days after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult 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 inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
