Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen 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 representing the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
But in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having 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.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
