Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement proved to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the senior England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming 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 things have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was something I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner 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 Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used 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.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player said 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 national coach and get my chance.”
