Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and representing the national team as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was a thing I definitely required.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“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 – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and it was shaping up as 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 went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
