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

That prediction proved to be something of an understatement.

Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the full England squad.

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

What’s next? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” Scott said previously.

“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my family.”

But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?

Learning in non-league

Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.

He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.

Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.

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

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

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

“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”

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

“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get 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 carries the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the pro ranks

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

“It was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.

“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”

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

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

Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.

“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.

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

Securing his big move

Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.

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

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

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

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

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 strong understanding in midfield with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.

And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.

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

“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”