When the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 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 aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for England too,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”
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 Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
