When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story seldom seen in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“To gain some confidence by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“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 – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player award, 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 his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
