Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus 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 proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and playing for England too,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
