Evan Ferguson’s lack of minutes at West Ham is a surprise, admits Ireland assistant manager John O’Shea.
But the 20-year-old forward isn’t alone when it comes to key players struggling for game-time at club level this year.
Ahead of Ireland’s Nations League play-off against Bulgaria, the topic of Ferguson’s so-far underwhelming switch came up in a top-table with Heimir Hallgrímsson’s number two.
When the Meathman made his temporary move from Brighton, where a long-term injury lay-off saw him slip down the pecking order, it was hoped that his season would ignite.
Instead, with Graham Potter handing him just a couple of minutes last weekend against Everton, his campaign remains stuck in first gear.
His longest run-out to date came on his debut, when he came off the bench at half-time against Brentford and gave a tantalising glimpse of what Hammers fans might expect in the coming weeks.
Since then, however, he has been restricted to late cameos - eight minutes against Arsenal, 17 against Leicester, 21 against Newcastle and stoppage time against the Toffees.
In the longer-term, the class displayed by the striker prior to last year’s season-ending ankle injury, will undoubtedly shine through again.
But longer-term is no good to O’Shea and Hallgrímsson, who need goals and results this week against Bulgaria to avoid a slide into League C.
O’Shea, like most observers, expected that Ferguson’s loan move to West Ham would have yielded more minutes to date.
“Yeah, exactly that, you would (expect it),” he said. “Especially a former manager (ex-Brighton boss Graham Potter) that obviously knows him well.
“But listen, the Premier League teams, there is big competition for places and obviously they probably felt as well that there was a little niggling injury where they had to build up fitness too.
“Hopefully that will improve towards the end of the season and we will see Evan get more starts for the club. That will help massively.”
Ferguson was back on the training pitch in Abbotstown yesterday ahead of the squad’s departure this afternoon for Plovdiv.
According to O’Shea, the former Bohemians prospect impressed during the session.
He said: “It always is the case in that sense, of any player that comes into the squad when you are trying to assess everything - can he start, how is he going to impact a game, what way can that go about it?
“But hopefully that (Ferguson’s minutes) will improve from the rest of the season and we’ll see what happens over the course of these next two games.
“But he looked very sharp in training this morning.”
O’Shea added: “He has got to, simple as, knuckle down in training and prove to us this week and to West Ham when he goes back that he deserves a start, and that he deserves to be in the team.
“If he gets the chance, whether it’s five minutes, 20 minutes or half-an-hour, that you show why you should be in the team. It’s a combination of all of that.”
Unfortunately for the Irish management team, Ferguson isn’t the only key player suffering from a lack of game-time at club level this season.
He has played just 19 percent of the available minutes in all competitions for Brighton and West Ham to date.
Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has likely played his last game for Liverpool - barring injury to Alisson.
His minutes played to minutes on offer is 38 percent and will drop between now and the end of the season, now that the League Cup campaign is run and the FA Cup is no longer in the Anfield diary.
Earlier this season Matt Doherty found himself struggling for starts at Wolves, but he has bounced back and has played 61 percent of available minutes.
But Robbie Brady and Ryan Manning, both vying for the left-back position in Plovdiv tomorrow night, are at 28 and 38 percent respectively.
And Mikey Johnston is on 55 percent at West Brom.
In better news, Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea have been close to ever-present for Brentford and Ipswich respectively.
And while Jake O’Brien is at 40 percent at Everton, he has the momentum of a strong run under David Moyes as he heads into this international break.
Josh Cullen (80 percent), Jason Knight (98 percent) and Finn Azaz (77 percent) have seen plenty of game-time for Burnley, Bristol City and Middlesbrough respectively.
And Troy Parrott may well have played himself into the starting 11 ahead of Ferguson with his form both at home and in Europe with AZ Alkmaar (84 percent).
Adam Idah (44 percent) has proved a serious impact player for Celtic. He has scored 14 goals despite 22 of his 41 appearances so far coming as a substitute.
The form of Parrott (17 goals) and Idah is a huge boost, according to O’Shea, who noted that they had also scored in big European games this season.
“Goalscoring is obviously the hardest thing in the game, so it’s very important when you have that confidence,” he said.
“They are two players playing in Europe as well, obviously.
“Adam has another fight on his hands to get that starting spot in the Celtic team, he is obviously coming on and affecting games. That’s an ongoing one for himself.
“But the most important thing is they are coming into us fit and well, and obviously confident from scoring goals and playing well in Europe and playing on big occasions.
“The more that happens for Irish players, the better.”
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