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When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”

This statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.

Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions squad.

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

What’s next? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player said previously.

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

But in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?

Learning in non-league

Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.

He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.

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

Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.

“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.

“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really required.

“Building some confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”

When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at the opposition.

“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.

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

Returning to the pro ranks

Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.

“The whole experience was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.

“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”

In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.

Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.

With his skill to drive 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 Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.

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

“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.

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

Securing his big move

The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.

His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly four months.

“There was 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 year for the first half.”

But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.

He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team with the national coach.

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

“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott said recently.

“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”