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When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for 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 youngster.”

This statement proved to be something of an understatement.

Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.

His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely told in the modern era.

What’s next? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and playing for England too,” Scott said previously.

“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for me and my family.”

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

Learning in non-league

Scott’s football journey has not been a typical 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 island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.

Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.

Instead, he opted to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.

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

“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was something I really needed.

“Building some confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”

At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.

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

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.

“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.

“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”

Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus the Hatters.

Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.

With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.

“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.

Less than three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.

Getting his big move

The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.

His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost several months.

“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.

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

But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.

He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.

And he has started this season just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.

“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”