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A rising talent could get a chance to prove himself for England against Croatia - and the stats suggest that he’s ready to make a big impression.
Although Thomas Tuchel’s squad selection for the extended international break wasn’t especially daring, the opening stages of England’s Nations League campaign have nonetheless developed into an intriguing experiment into the Three Lions’ style of play - with the wider, more direct system in use against Czechia serving as potential proof of concept for Anthony Gordon’s call for a less possession-focussed gameplan.
But while the focus has been on the broad brushstrokes and England’s identity as a team under Tuchel, there are still a few players in the squad who have been handed a chance to press their cases to become lasting staples of the squad. In Prague, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Lewis Hall took their opportunities to impress. In Rijeka this Saturday, it might be Alex Scott.
Alex Scott looked the part against Czechia – and deserves a chance to start
Bournemouth's Alex Scott made his Three Lions debut against Czechia in the Nations Leagueplaceholder image
Bournemouth's Alex Scott made his Three Lions debut against Czechia in the Nations League | Getty Images
With Declan Rice and Kobbie Mainoo both withdrawing from the squad for fitness reasons, the previously-uncapped Scott has been given a chance to prove himself – and he made a promising start with an energetic debut as a substitute in Czechia.
With the game effectively dead as a contest following Harry Kane’s goal, both Scott and fellow rookie Rio Ngumoha came off the bench for their first caps and threw themselves into life as an England player with admirable gusto. It’s Bournemouth’s Scott, however, who perhaps has the best chance to get a first start against Croatia this weekend.
In the absence of Rice and Mainoo, Myles Lewis-Skelly took the starting minutes in the first two games of the Nations League campaign and put in a pair of steady if not necessarily influential performances alongside Elliot Anderson. Scott’s introduction on Tuesday evening, however, added some extra verve to proceedings.
The 23-year-old will need to demonstrate more than mere enthusiasm to earn a place in future teams, of course, and he was also productive in his brief time on the pitch: In the space of just 20 minutes he made two interceptions, two tackles and forced two turnovers, completed all but one of his passes and even found space to flash a shot wide of goal when space opened up in front of him in the closing minutes. He earned the right to a longer, more lingering look.
The issue facing Scott, of course, is that he doesn’t just need to prove himself on his own merits or in comparison to Lewis-Skelly, but also to Rice, who holds an iron grip on the position that the Bournemouth man is auditioning for. Breaking Rice and Anderson’s duopoly on the midfield won’t be a straightforward exercise.
There are, at least, plenty of Premier League teams who are eager to give him a more sizeable domestic stage to work with. Chelsea bid unsuccessfully for Scott over the summer, several other top teams are tracking his progress, and given his refusal to sign a new contract with Bournemouth it’s presumed that he will be playing for a bigger (or at least wealthier) team in the near future.
A big move might help him to press his case on a week-to-week basis to some extent, but Tuchel has made it pretty clear that performances for England, in both training and match situations, matter more to him than the club-level form or the reputation of the team a player is employed by.
So can Scott translate his evident energy into the kind of output which might put him in the frame for future caps? We can only speculate on the quality of his work in England training – both during the current international break and as a member of the camp squad ahead of the World Cup – but that work in the Premier League, whether it matters to Tuchel or not, suggests that he might just have a real chance of troubling the first-choice midfield pairing as time goes by.
The stats which suggest that Scott is already as good as Rice & Anderson
Scott was a member of England's training squad ahead of the 2026 World Cupplaceholder image
Scott was a member of England's training squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup | Getty Images
Scott’s form for Bournemouth since the summer seems to have justified the transfer interest. The sample size is small, of course, but there has already been a marked improvement in a number of key statistical areas under new Bournemouth manager Marco Rose.
His total number of ball recoveries per game – a key measure of a player’s ability to win the ball back – has risen from an already respectable 5.3 to a colossal 7.2. That’s on top of averaging a combined 3.4 tackles and interceptions, while winning an impressive 63% of his one-on-one duels.
Those are the statistics you’d expect to see from an elite defensive midfielder. Anderson exceeds them in some respects – last season, for instance, when he was with Nottingham Forest, he averaged 8.1 recoveries per game and 3.8 combined tackles and interceptions – but Scott is already winning in one-on-one situations more frequently.
Anderson’s defensive numbers have dropped since he moved to Manchester City, which is expected given that he’s now playing for a side which enjoys far more possession, but the numbers are close enough to suggest that Scott is in the same ballpark as England’s best defensive midfielder and current anchor man, while they exceed the marks set by the slightly more attack-minded Rice.
What makes Rice special, of course, is that he combines ball-winning abilities with the capacity to surge upfield and spark attacks. The Arsenal midfielder, for instance, averaged 1.8 key passes (passes which lead directly to shooting opportunities) per game last season, an impressive figure for a player in a deeper position.
Scott, so far this season, is up to 2.2 per game. He’s also completing more dribbles at a higher success rate, which is quite something given that another of Rice’s great strengths is his ability to carry the ball forward confidently as Arsenal or England transition from defence to attack.
What the numbers suggest, shorn of the context of actual matches, is that Scott is already playing at a similar level to Rice and Anderson in the Premier League. The data paints the picture of a player with the box-to-box skillset to be a very worthy addition to the England squad. The eye test shows the energy and endeavour necessary to turn talent into long-term excellence.
The question, of course, is whether he translates raw statistical output into performances which measure up to the bar set by Rice and Anderson for England. Perhaps the numbers will be rendered meaningless by a failure to grasp the nettle as firmly as those presently ahead of him have done. England’s midfielders have been outstanding for years, and Scott is only just rising to their level now. There is no proof that he can compete in the long run. But a start against Croatia would be deserved based on his performances, and would provide the first meaningful evidence either way.