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Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”

This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.

Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.

What’s next? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” Scott said in a recent interview.

“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”

But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?

Developing in the lower tiers

Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.

He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.

Prior to he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.

Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his local team.

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

“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that slice of childhood again was a thing I really required.

“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”

When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.

“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”

Returning to the pro ranks

Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.

“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.

“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a contract.”

Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.

Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.

Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.

“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.

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

Getting his big move

The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.

His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.

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

“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”

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

He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team with the national coach.

And he has begun this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.

“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”