When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement proved to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some confidence by returning and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that led 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 second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“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
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
Within 18 months, still 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 used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Less than 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
