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When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.

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

His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern game.

What’s next? A major tournament?

“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott stated previously.

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

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

Learning in the lower tiers

Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.

He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.

Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.

Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.

“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.

“All I desired to relax 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.

“Building a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”

When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.

“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get 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 manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the pro ranks

Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.

“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.

“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”

In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.

Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.

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

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.

“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.

Less than three months later, he joined the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.

Securing his big move

The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.

His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.

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

“That felt like yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.

He started 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 his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.

And he has begun this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.

“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.

“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”