When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of childhood again 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 things that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott made eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Within 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost 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 managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
