Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true blast from the past, 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 pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that slice of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wide defender – 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.
With his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he signed for 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 make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, 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 nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring 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 career,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
