🔗 Share this article

Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

This prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.

Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.

His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.

What’s next? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said previously.

“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my family.”

But in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?

Developing in the lower tiers

His path in football has not been a typical one.

He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.

Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind 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 traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.

“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely required.

“Building some confidence by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”

When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.

“People have witnessed that – his retention 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 Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.

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

“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team 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 versus the Hatters.

Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.

Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.

“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, stated previously.

Less than 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.

Getting his major transfer

Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.

His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.

“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.

“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.

He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.

And he has begun this season just as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.

“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.

“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and get my chance.”