Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I really required.
“To gain some confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, returned home and by 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 deal.”
Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“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.
Less than three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several 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 yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season just as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
