Alex Scott on Guernsey roots, Bournemouth rise and an England call he still hopes for | OneFootball

Alex Scott says his phone celebration at Arsenal was a tennis homage, not a nudge to England head coach Thomas Tuchel, and he still hopes for a real call before the World Cup in June and July.

“I’ve been getting loads of messages about that,” he said. “But no, it had nothing to do with that. I love tennis, and Ben Shelton does that celebration when he wins games sometimes, so that’s what it was. I can see maybe the confusion, but it had nothing to do with England.” He was speaking to The Athletic.

Recalling Tuchel’s first FaceTime late last year, Scott added: “The call, first of all, was crazy. I just couldn’t wait to get off it to tell my family and friends.”

His first England session left a mark. “It was like 100mph,” he said. “The standard and the speed of the football was something I’ve never seen before, it’s frightening.”

Scott did not feature in the 2-0 win over Serbia at Wembley and was an unused substitute for the 2-0 victory in Albania. “It’s a shame I didn’t get on the pitch, but there’s plenty more camps ahead.”

His path ran from Guernsey FC to Bristol City, where “I scored a hat-trick on my trial, which was the perfect way to start,” before a £25million move to Bournemouth.

This season he has played in all 34 league games and praised outgoing head coach Andoni Iraola. “This manager has been brilliant for me... I’ll always be grateful to him.”

Eligible for the Republic of Ireland through his father, he said: “I have not heard anything, or given it any thought... my focus at the minute is playing as well as I can for Bournemouth and trying to get in that England squad for the World Cup.”

Source: NY Times