When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans 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.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was a thing I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing local football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season just as strongly for his club, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
