Evan Ferguson - Top Irish Prospect

Atalanta was going to accept £50m and we opened with £60m so….
Apocryphal tale if ever I’ve heard one.

He should try his luck in Scotland. See if he can build up his confidence there and then maybe come back and have another crack at the Premier League when he's older.
After one poor, injury ravaged season? I think he’ll be staying at Brighton competing for minutes and hoping to have a breakout season to build on his debut campaign.
The boy needs another season at Brighton before moving on to a big club.
Agreed. At least. He looked a real talent in his first season, but had a somewhat stereotypical second season syndrome campaign last year, beset by injuries. I’m fairly sure he’s still very highly rated within the Brighton hierarchy and they’ll be looking for him to kick on this season. It’s worth remembering he’s still just 19. That’s honestly nothing for a striker. Loads of quality strikers didn’t put it all together until they hit, 22, 23 or 24.

The important thing for him this year is to stay fit, build on the promise he showed in his first season, and to keep developing his game. Right now he’s no-one’s immediate answer up front, but he remains a very exciting prospect that should be given time and space to develop. The low pressure environment, and technical football played at Brighton is the perfect environment for him right now. If he went to a big club he’d just be loaned out or spend far too much time on the bench than he should be at his stage of development. Brighton will give him plenty of minutes if he’s fit, even if he doesn’t start the season as first choice.
 
After one poor, injury ravaged season? I think he’ll be staying at Brighton competing for minutes and hoping to have a breakout season to build on his debut campaign.
Not just yet, I think it's reasonable for him to try a little bit longer at Brighton. I'm thinking of the future really. Possibly January, maybe next campaign.

I'm not sure this idea the injuries ruined his season really holds water though. Hadn't he failed to score in his last 15 games for Brighton when the injury that caused him to miss their last 9 games occurred?
 
Feel like he's crazy overrated on here. Brighton are the most purple patch team in the league, very hit and miss and the guy has qualities
Not a dead cert by any means though.
 
Feel like he's crazy overrated on here. Brighton are the most purple patch team in the league, very hit and miss and the guy has qualities
Not a dead cert by any means though.
He certainly was at the beginning of last season. Opinions mainly varied between him being as good as nailed on to be a top level striker in a few years and some particularly mad people who wanted us to sign him immediately as our starting forward.

I'd imagine most people these days are accepting that stocks don't inevitably go up.
 
Feel like he's crazy overrated on here. Brighton are the most purple patch team in the league, very hit and miss and the guy has qualities
Not a dead cert by any means though.

Well, that 2022-2023 season was super promising. And he's Irish and there are plenty of Irish posters.

Anyhow, when is he back playing, I read he's back in training but still reports circling that he won't be back until October? @The Boy
 
Well, that 2022-2023 season was super promising. And he's Irish and there are plenty of Irish posters.

Anyhow, when is he back playing, I read he's back in training but still reports circling that he won't be back until October? @The Boy
Yeah, there's no way we'd have a thread this long if the kid was French or whatever.
 
Yeah, there's no way we'd have a thread this long if the kid was French or whatever.

I don't have my sarcasm detector on hand, so not sure about your motive :lol:

But I'm not Irish and I've been a complete muppet for United signing him since that breakout season (and he's a United fan too, which I love).

At the moment, 50m, after that last season (which was likely an anomaly) while we've already got Hojlund, and are looking for money beneath the sofa cushions to sign a #6, I think it's a streeetch. But I wouldn't say no.
 
Well, that 2022-2023 season was super promising. And he's Irish and there are plenty of Irish posters.

Anyhow, when is he back playing, I read he's back in training but still reports circling that he won't be back until October? @The Boy
I don't know to be honest, we're always a bit mysterious about injuries and don't give out too much detail. But he is back in training, but hasn't featured in any of the preseason friendlies. So obviously some way to go with his fitness, hopefully he'll be back between the international breaks or just after. I'm sure Ireland will play him if they can in Nation's League matches.
 
Why isn't he playing? Featured for Ireland, but not even coming off the bench for his team despite them being 0-0 at home to Ipswich
 
Why isn't he playing? Featured for Ireland, but not even coming off the bench for his team despite them being 0-0 at home to Ipswich

Just coming back from injury.
He should really go out on loan to a Championship club and get some experience.
He's still very young.
 
Why isn't he playing? Featured for Ireland, but not even coming off the bench for his team despite them being 0-0 at home to Ipswich

Probably because he seems to be perpetually injured and has looked dire when he has played, in recent times.
 
Loads of time for it to change again of course, but it is pretty funny how he's gone from "just pay the 100m" and "next Wayne Rooney" at 18 to "bullet dodged" and "next Franny Jeffers" at 19.
 
Loads of time for it to change again of course, but it is pretty funny how he's gone from "just pay the 100m" and "next Wayne Rooney" at 18 to "bullet dodged" and "next Franny Jeffers" at 19.

The Granny incident with Rooney will never be forgotten it seems. Even little typos follow him whilst mentioning about another player :(
 
Why isn't he playing? Featured for Ireland, but not even coming off the bench for his team despite them being 0-0 at home to Ipswich
There’s no mystery to it - he had surgery back in March or April and he’s had no pre-season. That’s the reason he hasn’t featured for Brighton so far.
 
Needs to ditch Brighton. When Danny fecking Welbeck is starting ahead of you, in any era era, you know it's time to go.
 
There was a time Caf scouts were okay with us paying £100m for him.
 
Needs to ditch Brighton. When Danny fecking Welbeck is starting ahead of you, in any era era, you know it's time to go.
Have you considered Welbeck might just be training better, playing better, fitting the team better? Or is that too hard to grasp, when you have a strong prejudice against a certain player?
 
Anyone who advocated spending that kind of money on a then 18 year old with a handful of games was obviously a bit mental.
He's worth it, how much would Rooney have cost in this market? You don't often find kids that can do serious damage in the PL and when you do you have to move mountains to sign them.
Harsh on @crossy1686
 
Injuries seemed to have really derailed his career path. Still young, but needs some luck with injuries and lots of time on the pitch. Maybe a loan to the championship micght not be a bad idea.
 
I wonder if he's one of those players that suffer from growing so quickly at a young age. Seems to constantly get injured, maybe needs to play in a less physically intense league for a bit.
 
Welbeck would've been better for us than Martial.
Always fit and puts in a shift.
Not really, he's just as unreliable and Martial was a better player. He does put in a shift and is a good player, but always fit has never been a trait of Welbeck.
 
So he's just completely unfancied by that choir boy manager.

edit: just threw him on with 8 minutes to go at home to Forest.