Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a story seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half 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 attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
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 replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, 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 on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
