When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the senior Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told 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 Premier League and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, 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 mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With 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 national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
