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Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”

That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.

Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.

His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.

What’s next? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.

“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”

But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?

Developing in the lower tiers

His path in football has not been a typical one.

He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.

Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.

Rather, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.

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

“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I definitely required.

“Building some confidence by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial things that led me to this point.”

When he was just 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.

“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.

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

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.

“It was hectic,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total surprise.

“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by 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, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.

Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.

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

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.

“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.

Within three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.

Securing his big move

The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.

His following season was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost several months.

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

“That felt like almost another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”

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

He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with the national coach.

And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.

“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.

“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”