Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that slice of youth again was something I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights 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 retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
