Alex Scott is having the kind of season that makes Premier League scouts start refreshing their contacts list. The 22-year-old Bournemouth midfielder was one of the league’s most consistent performers in 2025/26, and now both Arsenal and Manchester United are reportedly circling with serious interest.
Bournemouth has slapped a £60 million price tag on Scott, which sounds steep until you look around at what other midfielders are going for these days. According to reports, Manchester City had a £120 million bid rejected for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson. So is Anderson really worth double what Scott is? Probably not, and that math is making Scott look like a relative bargain in a market that’s lost its mind.
Scott barely missed the cut for England’s World Cup squad this summer, which tells you the kind of trajectory he’s on. He’s young, he’s proven in the Premier League, and Bournemouth has a well-documented habit of selling their best players when the right offer comes in. Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez both left last summer. Antoine Semenyo followed in January. The Cherries know how this works.
Where would Scott fit at Old Trafford?
Manchester United is already expected to finalize a deal for Atalanta’s Ederson, according to BBC Sport. But with Casemiro’s contract expiring and Manuel Ugarte still struggling to find his footing at Old Trafford, bringing in Scott alongside Ederson would give new manager Michael Carrick a completely revamped midfield. That’s a lot of new faces at once, but it also signals that United is serious about fixing a position that’s been a weakness for years.
Arsenal might need depth more than a starter
At the Emirates, the situation is different. Mikel Arteta already has Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi as his primary midfield pairing. But Christian Norgaard barely saw the field in 2025/26, and Rice and Zubimendi ended up playing way too many minutes across all competitions. Scott could slot in as a rotational piece, someone who can start 20 league matches and take the pressure off the starters without the offense dropping off.
Scott is comfortable carrying the ball under pressure, picking passes between the lines, and putting in the defensive work that Premier League managers demand from central midfielders. He’s not a flashy, highlight-reel type, but he’s the kind of player who makes everyone around him better. That’s exactly the profile both Arsenal and United have been targeting in recent windows.
£60 million is a lot of money for a player who’s not quite a household name yet. But if the alternative is paying double for someone like Anderson, it starts to look like a smart bet on a player who’s only getting better.
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