Back when the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden 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 rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood again was something I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost 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 making his senior debut against the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
