Why Brighton will sell this ‘£100m’ striker and not Evan Ferguson – as club look to avoid another Viktor Gyokeres blunder
Evan Ferguson should remain patient at Brighton despite lack of minutes for the Ireland internartional
Evan Ferguson clocked up another four minutes in the Premier League for Brighton at Bournemouth last Saturday.
His late showing at the Vitality Stadium takes him to just 105 minutes of top flight football for fifth placed Albion this term.
His one start came in the 1-1 draw at Newcastle, where he was hooked after 60 minutes, and his only goal arrived as a late substitute during the 2-2 home draw against Wolves.
It was not supposed to be this way for Ferguson, who has now fully recovered from a foot injury that kept him away from the first team for large chunks of last season.
The Ireland international has played more minutes for his country this season than he has for his club and it’s a situation that cannot continue for too much longer if Ferguson is to fulfil his potential at Brighton. Potential that has seen him linked with the likes of Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and more recently West Ham, Fulham and Leicester.
So what has gone wrong for the former Bohemians man under Fabian Hurzeler at Brighton this season? Well, first things first, Ferguson has done little wrong and Hurzeler often speaks in glowing terms of the 20-year-old, who once turned down a move to Liverpool in favour of Albion due to an increased chance of first team football.
“It gets their self confidence back,” said Hurzeler to Sussex World after Ferguson’s goal against Wolves. “I’m happy for him. For me it’s very important how the offensive players work against the ball. We try to give him the environment where he can develop and hopefully he will use it.”
That decision in 2021 seemed to be working well as Ferguson enjoyed a fine start to his Albion career and a return of 17 goals and five assists from 74 appearances so far looks pretty good for any young striker breaking through in the Premier League.
The foot injury certainly slowed momentum but competition for places has also increased massively at the club. Albion spent more £200m on new recruits last summer as Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter and Brajan Gruda all added to existing attacking riches of Joao Pedro, Danny Welbeck, Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra.
Rutter, who arrived from Leeds from £40m, has been preferred to Ferguson while a fully fit Pedro is one of the best strikers in the Premier League. Pedro now has four goals from fours starts this season and if he is fit, he plays.
The surprise though has been the form and ongoing fitness of Danny Welbeck – and that has probably been the key to Ferguson’s lack of minutes. Welbeck has six goals this term and the former Manchester United and Arsenal striker is the established main man for Hurzeler.
At 33, Welbeck is playing some of the best football of his career and perhaps more surprisingly he has stayed fit. Welbeck has a long history of injuries but he has already played more than a 1,000 minutes in the Premier League this term – compared to Ferguson’s 100 – and has started all 12 matches.
This is where Ferguson has to be patient and it’s a key reason why he’s highly unlikely to be sold this January. At some stage, Welbeck will need a breather and at some stage – perhaps this summer – Pedro will likely be sold for big money to a Premier League giant or one of the major cubs across Europe.
The Brazilian is simply too good not to be and it’s no stretch to imagine him at a Barcelona, Real Madrid or even a Manchester City. It’s more likely that Pedro will be sold for huge profit at £100m-plus before Ferguson… and then the Irishman will really have his chance once more It looks tough for Ferguson at the moment, especially as Welbeck, Rutter and Pedro all combined so well in the 2-1 win at Bournemouth, but he is just one injury or one big sale away from being a regular once again. Ferguson and his agent should be patient, he remains the future.
Brighton will also be very wary not to make the same mistake with Ferguson as they did with Viktor Gyökeres. Brighton signed Gyökeres for peanuts from IF Brommapojkarna in 2018 and the Swedish ace hardly kicked a ball for the first team before joining Coventry in 2021 for around £1m.
The former Albion striker now looks set for a huge move back to the Premier League after a prolific spell with Ruben Amorim at Sporting.
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