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Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”

That statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.

Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.

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

Next stop? A major tournament?

“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott stated previously.

“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”

So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?

Learning in non-league

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

He was part of 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 mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.

Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.

Rather, he opted to remain on the island and play for his local team.

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

“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth again was something I really required.

“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me where I am today.”

At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.

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

Returning to the professional game

Championship side the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.

“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.

“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”

In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.

He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.

With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.

“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, stated last year.

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

Securing his big move

Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.

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

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

“That felt like almost another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.

He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.

And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the standings.

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

“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”