Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” Scott stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn 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 ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
