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Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”

This prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.

Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the senior Three Lions team.

His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern era.

What’s next? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated previously.

“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”

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

Learning in non-league

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

He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island 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 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.

Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.

“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.

“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was something I really required.

“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”

When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.

“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.

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

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.

“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.

“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”

Within a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus Luton.

He went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.

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

At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.

“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, remarked last year.

Less than three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.

Securing his major transfer

Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.

His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.

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

“It was almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first five months.”

But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.

He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.

And he has begun the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.

“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I must continue developing 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 get my chance.”