When Alex Scott came on to make his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of 55 people in 2019, his manager at the time promised "there's more to come from this boy". That was probably a bit of an understatement. Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the senior England squad. His rise from non-league prodigy in the eighth tier of English football to potential international star is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game. Next stop: the World Cup?

"In my mind then, there was there was no chance of becoming a professional football player let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well," Scott told BBC Radio Guernsey in September. "It's been a crazy five or six years of my life and and things have changed drastically for me and my family."

So how did Scott, known affectionately as the 'Guernsey Grealish', end up here? Scott's football journey has not been a conventional one. He spent four and a half years as part of Southampton's academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints' youth teams. Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go.

Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries' books for a while but, by the player's own admission, his heart was not in it. Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team. "I wasn't playing very well and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much," he told BBC Sport in 2023. "I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.

"To gain some confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important things that got me where I am today." 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 Isthmian League Division One South East game at Phoenix Sports.

"I've been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because he's that good," Guernsey boss Tony Vance told BBC Radio Guernsey at the time. "Everyone's now seen that - his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he's a class act."

Championship side Bristol City - owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown - had been tracking Scott's early progress after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019. "It was chaos," said Scott. "The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.

"On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract." Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton. Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back - and sometimes further forward as a number 10 - such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.

With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname 'the Guernsey Grealish', a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish. At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship's young player of the season, was selected in the division's team of the year and was named Bristol City's player and young player of the Year.

"No doubt about that, I think he'll play for England and I think he'll go on to the top of the game," Nigel Pearson, Scott's manager at Ashton Gate, told BBC Radio Bristol in May 2023. Less than three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.

Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team. His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly four months.

"I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw," said Scott. "It was almost another setback and it [2025] was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months." But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships - and managed to get himself fit in time. He went on to start five of the Young Lions' six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel. And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.

"To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my life," Scott said earlier this season. "It's down to me, I've got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance."