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Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

That statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.

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

His ascent from non-league prodigy 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 no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and representing England as well,” the player said previously.

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

So in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?

Developing in the lower tiers

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

He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.

Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.

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

“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.

“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.

“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”

When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring 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 possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the pro ranks

Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.

“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.

“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a contract.”

In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.

He made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.

With his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.

“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 the club, stated last year.

Within 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.

Securing his big move

Scott endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.

His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.

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

“It was yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.

He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with the national coach.

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

“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.

“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”