Evan Ferguson F Roma (loan from Brighton) b.2004

I think what everyone has hoped for is that he'd get a run of 2-3 games where the pressure is a little lower and he regains his confidence. Pre-season friendlies are probably the best place for that over loan moves or anything else. If he's going to be sold I hope it's this side of July.

If he has a solid pre-season I don't see why he wouldn't work his way into any managers thinking. If we wipe away all the noise, Brighton is still one of the most ideal places for him to be relative to fan expectations and the quality of opposition. Anyway, here's to the lad to have a decent season

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Ekitike is a good example of how a reset can do wonders for a young player. He bombed out of PSG after getting a big move there, he had some mental health issues but he moved to Frankfurt and thrived. Now at 23 hes being liked with a move to all the big clubs again and Frankfurt want a 100 Million quid fee. Hes 3 years older than Ferguson and yet hes considered a young player with huge potential still.

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If Ferguson was as quick as Ekitike, he'd be a top 3 striker in the premier league and be worth over £100m. He can hold the ball and link up play, he can head, he's a very natural finisher when confident. (At West Ham, he was taking an extra touch which he couldn't afford and spurning chances he'd normally score).

See his 12th goal here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI-d3lzCkFs (Clip starts at 2.57) - I've seen Evan in the situation probably more than half a dozen times. Virtually every time, he's either shot from outside the box or been caught by defenders or waited for a team mate to overlap, cause he just didn't quite have the pace. It's not like you can't be a great striker without great pace. Harry Kane isn't that quick and he's one the best goal scorers of his generation (Kane, Lewandowski, Salah, Haaland, Mbappe). Saying that, Kane is an absolute freak. Not really the archetype but the exception. On the other hand, at the same age Evan is now, Harry Kane had yet to score a premier league goal (just about, this stat is no longer true in 15 days) - so as people mention, he's still young enough to be anything he could dream of being.

Here's a video of Evan's last 20 shots across West Ham, Ireland and Brighton. Gives a decent sense of where he's at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9qs72qk39E

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Theres no doubt that Ferguson has to take personal responsibility for how things have gone in the last year or so, but that doesnt negate that other factors would also have a big influence. I like that we are seeing him working out before going back to preseason, he has to hit the ground running and hopefully his injuries are behind him. I do think the injury was a huge factor in why things went a bit pear shaped and the West Ham move was nothing but a disaster, so lets see.

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No problems with any of that; all seems quite considered.

What I disagree with in the original post is this idea that if Hurlezer just picked him in his best position, everything would be fine. That's naive in the extreme for me.

The opening weeks of the season will be very interesting.

Getting sponsored by Lead Boots wasn't a good idea ! !

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

What I disagree with in the original post is this idea that if Hurlezer just picked him in his best position, everything would be fine. That's naive in the extreme for me.

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When Danny Welbeck goes to bat for Ferguson and calls out Hurzeler's treatment of him, you know that a lot of the responsibility lies with the manager. I think we have all underestimated the impact of the injury on his form last season and the injury likely led to a loss of confidence. The loan to West Ham was a bad idea from Ferguson's perspective - didn't like it from the get-go as I think Potter is a spoofer - but they were willing to pony up a big loan fee as insurance against not having a striker for a relegation battle.

Now - as I said earlier - I do think a reboot is needed. But I do think the kid has a good attitude, works hard and keeps his feet on the ground (and his dad helps with that). Here is hoping he has a good season and takes another step forward in his development.

I saw a report suggesting that Brighton would sell him for less than £30m this summer. Obviously it's just a report with no quotes, but if they are actually looking at letting him go for that kind of number it might suggest that the injuries have brought things to a situation where his ceiling is no long what they previously expected it to be.

I read the same article. It definitely would add a "why are they so desperate to sell" tag to his name. At the same time, based on the last 16 months, it's still a fairly high price tag and would be a gamble for any team - purely based on recent form and stats.

I was out with a Brighton-suppoirting pal on Saturday, a guy who lives and breathes the club. I asked him if there are anly clues or rumours and he said nobody has any idea what's going on.

I think the 6 months he was out after surgery, after playing with an injury for months and losing confidence, has floored him. And then he wanted out when he wasn't getting enough minutes at Brighton when he got back fit, the focus was gone. He needs to move on a pemanent and just get a run at things. He could be a relative bargin for someone as no way he is going for anything over 20m.

Brentford is the place for him.

But, if you were Brighton and you believed that he still had as high a potential as he had a couple of years ago, you'd most likely loan him to somewhere like the Eredivisie, where an on-form Ferguson would score for fun, and he would rebuild his transfer value.

Brighton are a well run club and if their decision is to cut and run when his stock is at it's lowest, that has to be a concern. They don't get too many transfer decisions wrong.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I was out with a Brighton-suppoirting pal on Saturday, a guy who lives and breathes the club. I asked him if there are anly clues or rumours and he said nobody has any idea what's going on.

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Better than hearing that he is well known for hanging around Brighton Pier on a Saturday night with a bottle of buckfast in one hand and some hippy crack in the other!!

If true, I can’t say I’m hugely surprised. Something’s clearly amiss with him, whether that’s because of injuries and an accompanying loss of confidence, or something else we’re not aware of…or a combination of everything.

This is such an important season for him, whichever club he’s at.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Better than hearing that he is well known for hanging around Brighton Pier on a Saturday night with a bottle of buckfast in one hand and some hippy crack in the other!!

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You leave Connolly out of this ffs. Move on!

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Originally Posted by Strongbow10

Brentford is the place for him.

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Brentford have a strict "No Di ckh eads" policy, borrowed from the All Blacks, as it happens. Which means that regardless of how talented/cheap/available a player is, they simply wion't sign him if they think his personality/temperament/professionalism is suspect.

Now I'm NOT saying Ferguson is a D******d (I've no idea about that), but he and Brighton will be aware that even after they've identified a player as a feasible signing, Brentford go very deep into his background - family, former coaches, teammates, friends and associates, even school days - to see whether there are any actual or potential problems. And any doubt, they pull out.

So that if they were interested in EF, they'd need persuading that there is a very good explanation for his recent career decline before they took it any further.

Of course they should be interested in a player of such obvious potential, esp at a price of £28m = huge upside for a sale. Except that Brighton are normally also very diligent about such matters, prompting the question why they're open to (low) offers.

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Originally Posted by EalingGreen

Brentford have a strict "No Di ckh eads" policy, borrowed from the All Blacks, as it happens. Which means that regardless of how talented/cheap/available a player is, they simply wion't sign him if they think his personality/temperament/professionalism is suspect.

Now I'm NOT saying Ferguson is a D******d (I've no idea about that), but he and Brighton will be aware that even after they've identified a player as a feasible signing, Brentford go very deep into his background - family, former coaches, teammates, friends and associates, even school days - to see whether there are any actual or potential problems. And any doubt, they pull out.

So that if they were interested in EF, they'd need persuading that there is a very good explanation for his recent career decline before they took it any further.

Of course they should be interested in a player of such obvious potential, esp at a price of £28m = huge upside for a sale. Except that Brighton are normally also very diligent about such matters, prompting the question why they're open to (low) offers.

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Which would mean that any appearance in photographs with notable figures connected to Dublin's underworld or similar would not reflect well in such an appraisal, no matter how innocent.

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Originally Posted by EalingGreen

Brentford have a strict "No Di ckh eads" policy, borrowed from the All Blacks, as it happens. Which means that regardless of how talented/cheap/available a player is, they simply wion't sign him if they think his personality/temperament/professionalism is suspect.

Now I'm NOT saying Ferguson is a D******d (I've no idea about that), but he and Brighton will be aware that even after they've identified a player as a feasible signing, Brentford go very deep into his background - family, former coaches, teammates, friends and associates, even school days - to see whether there are any actual or potential problems. And any doubt, they pull out.

So that if they were interested in EF, they'd need persuading that there is a very good explanation for his recent career decline before they took it any further.

Of course they should be interested in a player of such obvious potential, esp at a price of £28m = huge upside for a sale. Except that Brighton are normally also very diligent about such matters, prompting the question why they're open to (low) offers.

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Ivan Toney would disagree with you

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

Which would mean that any appearance in photographs with notable figures connected to Dublin's underworld or similar would not reflect well in such an appraisal, no matter how innocent.

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Tbf, if there was a (genuinely) innocent explanation, and that was all, then I'm sure they'd look beyond it, but who knows?

Meanwhile, if there's a plausible medical explanation for EF's decline, Brentford have an excellent record in managing such a situation. For example, they signed the injury-prone Scott Hogan for £750k from Rochdale, then after 21 goals in 36 games, sold him for something like £15m to Villa. Also took a very successful punt on Christian Eriksson, when others hesitated. While best of all, they signed a 22 y.o. Dane, Mikkel Damsgaard from Sampdoria for €15m, where he'd been in and out of the team due to finess problems - reports said it was some form of arthritis?

Anyhow, it took him a season or two to get fully fit and adjust to the Prem, but last season he was superb, featuring in all 38 league games and being many fans' choice for POTY, even ahead of Mbuemo and Flekken.

But none of that will count for a damned thing, if there are other doubts over Ferguson.

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Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Ivan Toney would disagree with you

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IT had a gambling addiction, not a personality problem, and it never affected his career at Brentford. And after signing him for £10m, they sold him for £40m after scoring 67 goals in 128 league games, 36 of them in the Prem. Now sure, he was never short of self-confidence - eg on the first day after his gambling ban ended, he swaggered into the training ground and announced: "The Big Dog's back!".

But the fact is, as a professional he was an excellent trainer and very popular amongst the players and staff. While Thomas Frank, who's never suffered fools gladly, made him one of his leadership team, even Captain on occasion, meanwhile Gareth Southgate, another manager who values these things highly, gave him his England debut.

Sometimes you have to look beyond all the Social Media guff, as Brentford obviously do.