When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the senior England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was something I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, 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 sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Less than 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to 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 strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
