Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland 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, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was something I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
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 Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’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,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost 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 Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
