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Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

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

Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the full England squad.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.

Next stop? The World Cup?

“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.

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

But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?

Learning in non-league

Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.

He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.

Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.

Rather, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.

“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.

“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth again was something I definitely needed.

“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”

At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.

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

Making a comeback to the pro ranks

Championship side Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.

“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.

“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”

Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.

Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.

With his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.

“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.

Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.

Getting his big move

Scott experienced a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his Premier League 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 sidelined him for nearly four months.

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

“It was yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year 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 started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.

And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.

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

“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”