Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing England too,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be 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 was introduced 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 include him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by 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, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
