Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match 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 exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
