When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of childhood back was something I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen 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 will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained 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 selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
