When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood back was something I really required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as 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 sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
