Back when the young midfielder made 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.”
That statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood back was a thing I really required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for England and I think 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 after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for his club, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
