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, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true 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 representing England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football 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 travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season just as strongly for his club, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
