When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and representing England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth back was something I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury 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 almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
