Rising from grassroots all the way to national team selection - who is the ‘Grealish of Guernsey’ Scott?

Back when the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.

Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full England team.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern era.

Next stop? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” the player stated previously.

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

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

Learning in non-league

His football journey has been far from a conventional one.

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

Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.

Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.

“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.

“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of youth again was a thing I really needed.

“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”

When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.

“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.

“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.

“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by 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 deal.”

Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against the Hatters.

He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.

With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.

“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.

Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.

Securing his major transfer

The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the team.

His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.

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

“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year 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 matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.

And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the table.

“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” Scott stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”