🔗 Share this article

When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.

Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first summons to the senior England team.

His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.

Next stop? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England as well,” Scott stated previously.

“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”

So in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?

Developing in the lower tiers

His football journey has not been a typical one.

He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.

Before he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.

Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.

“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.

“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.

“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”

At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.

“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented at the time.

“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.

“It was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.

“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”

Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.

Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being deployed 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 the standout performer.

Thanks to his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’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.

“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked last year.

Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.

Getting his big move

Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign 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 in and out of the team.

His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.

“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.

“That felt like yet another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first half.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.

He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.

And he has started this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.

“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” the player said earlier this season.

“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”