Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He made 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, featuring in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
