When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“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 the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his Premier League 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 nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
