Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and representing England too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood back was a thing I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country 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 three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
