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Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”

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 maiden summons to the senior England team.

His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a true throwback, a story seldom told in the modern game.

Next stop? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for England too,” Scott said in a recent interview.

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

But how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?

Developing in the lower tiers

His path in football has been far from a conventional one.

He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.

Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.

Rather, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.

“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.

“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.

“To gain some self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial 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 Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.

“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager the coach commented at the time.

“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the pro ranks

Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising start 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 under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, 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 three goals. From that point a done deal for me to sign a deal.”

Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.

He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward 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 skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.

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

“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.

Less than 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.

Securing his major transfer

The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.

His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.

“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.

“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”

But he was then selected by England 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 midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.

And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.

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

“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”