Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true throwback, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before 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 heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
He made 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within 90 days after, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season 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 last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad 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 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 understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season just as impressively for his club, featuring 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 occasions of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
