Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each 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. Bournemouth gave Scott an option 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 Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, 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’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
