Alex Scott joined up with the rest of the Three Lions squad for the very first time on Tuesday, with his meteoric rise from the island ranks to international football attracting plenty of media attention following his first senior call-up.
‘Six years ago, I was playing non-league football for Guernsey and I wasn’t even sure I was going to make it as a football player,’ he told reporters at a press conference at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground.
‘So now to be in the England senior team, it’s a dream come true.
‘I’m just grateful for all the coaches, my family, and everyone who’s helped me get to this point today.’
The 22-year-old former St Martin’s and Guernsey FC midfielder is now rubbing shoulders with the likes of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham as England prepare for games against Serbia at Wembley on Thursday and away in Albania on Sunday.
Those are the final two qualifying matches for next summer’s World Cup in the USA, a tournament for which Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions have already secured their place.
‘The dream for everyone, especially the players here, is to be in that World Cup squad, but to be honest I just want to come in, show what I’m about and show the coaches here what I can do and how I can play in an England shirt,’ said Scott, who has become a mainstay in a Bournemouth side riding high in the Premier League this season.
‘I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be here. Of course the World Cup is definitely a dream of mine, I’ve just got to take it one step at a time. Enjoy this week now, if I get the chance to play, hopefully impress and show what I’m capable of.
‘I’ve not had too much advice [off England’s senior stars] yet, we’ve only been here for a short time, but Harry Kane was massive when I was growing up – one of my favourite players – and there are others that I’ve looked up to for plenty of years.
‘It will be nice to get out there, train with them today, have conversations, learn more about them as people, and learn about them as players as well, and I’ll be looking to take parts of their game and learn as much as I can.’
If Scott does make his debut this week, he will become just the third Channel Islander to play for England’s men, following in the footsteps of Matt Le Tissier and Jersey’s Graeme Le Saux, but the second Guernsey player to play international football in just a few weeks after fellow Sarnian star Maya Le Tissier won her ninth and 10th Lionesses caps last month.
England’s game against Serbia kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday and is being shown live on ITV1.
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.