Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the senior England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing England too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
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, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey 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.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started this season just as strongly for his club, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
