When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his maiden summons to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of 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 feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood back was something I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring his development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has begun this season just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
