Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” Scott stated previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“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,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’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 top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, 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 Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season just as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
