When the young midfielder made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth again was something I really needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander 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 hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He made 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes 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 ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
