When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the senior England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a true blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I really required.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance 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.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had 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 almost another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
