When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I really needed.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing 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, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill 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 attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he joined the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”