Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the full England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth again was a thing I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He made 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. 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 earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another setback 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 managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
