When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each 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.
Before his 13th birthday, though, 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 chose to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was a thing I really required.
“Building some confidence by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
