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When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”

This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.

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

His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.

Next stop? The World Cup?

“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” Scott stated previously.

“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”

So how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?

Learning in non-league

His path in football has not been a typical one.

He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train 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 was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.

Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.

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

“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was a thing I really required.

“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors 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 substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.

“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach commented back then.

“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.

“The whole experience was hectic,” 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 featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”

Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.

Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.

Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.

“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked last year.

Less than 90 days after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.

Getting his big move

Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.

His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.

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

“That felt like almost another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first half.”

But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.

He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.

And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.

“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.

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