Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden summons to the senior England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper throwback, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school 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 Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was something I definitely required.
“Building some confidence by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
