Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of 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 the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed 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 Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained 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 three goals. From that point a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion 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 player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
Scott endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
