Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the full England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a story seldom told in the modern era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing England too,” Scott stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
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, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some confidence by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced 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 team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side 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 done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes 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.
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 England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has started this season just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
