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When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”

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

Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the senior Three Lions team.

His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.

Next stop? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” the player said previously.

“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”

So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?

Learning in non-league

His path in football has been far from a typical one.

He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.

Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.

Rather, he chose to remain 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 recalled.

“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood back was a thing I definitely needed.

“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”

When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.

“Everyone’s now seen 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

Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.

“It was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.

“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. It was almost 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 against Luton.

Scott made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.

Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.

“Without question, I think 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, remarked previously.

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

Securing his major transfer

Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.

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

“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.

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

But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.

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

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

“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.

“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”