Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “there’s more to come 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 first call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team as well,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, 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 impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being used as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to 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 Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
Scott endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be 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 succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
