Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and representing England as well,” Scott stated previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I really required.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their 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 the coach commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting 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 pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
