When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” 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 Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning 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 beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
