When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” Scott stated previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, 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 while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of youth back was something I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated 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
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC 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, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving every day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
