Back when the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a true blast from the past, a story rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth again was something I definitely required.
“Building some confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s 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 senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being used 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 ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to make 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 surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
