Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for England too,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day 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 Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked previously.
Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a knee operation 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,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started 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 excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started this season just as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
