When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for England as well,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four 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 train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was a thing I really required.
“To gain some confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring 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 a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
