🔗 Share this article

When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”

This statement 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 first call-up to the senior England squad.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern era.

Next stop? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said previously.

“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”

So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?

Learning in non-league

His football journey has been far from a typical one.

He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.

Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.

Rather, he opted to stay on the island and play for his local team.

“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.

“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth again was something I really needed.

“To gain some confidence by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”

When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager the coach commented at the time.

“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the pro ranks

Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.

“It was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.

“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”

Within 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.

He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.

Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.

“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.

Less than 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.

Getting his big move

The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.

His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.

“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.

“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.

He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under the national coach.

And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the table.

“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”