An international break coming just days after the Premier League season ends is not something every player would have embraced but, for West Ham United misfit Evan Ferguson, the green shirt of the Republic of Ireland will certainly be a sight for sore eyes.
Because while the likes of Tomas Soucek, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Edson Alvarez may have preferred an extended break at the end of another long, hard campaign, Evan Ferguson heads into the Ireland camp champing at the bit and desperate to start making up for lost time.
The Brighton and Hove Albion loanee started just one Premier League match in West Ham United colours. In fact, he was only on the pitch for 152 minutes of top-flight action under Graham Potter.
By his own admission, Ferguson expected more chances to prove his worth in a Hammers jersey. Potter would soon clap back, however, pointing out that the Brighton-owned striker had to be managed carefully after so many injury issues.
Either way, with more complaints than goals during his forgettable half-season at the London Stadium, the upcoming friendly clashes against Senegal and Luxembourg provide an opportunity for Ferguson to start getting his once-glittering reputation back on the right track.
Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images
John O’Shea urges Evan Ferguson to bounce back after West Ham United exit
Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson shone a light on Evan Ferguson’s frustrations when including the Drogheda-born 20-year-old in his squad for the June internationals.
Assistant coach John O’Shea, speaking at a press conference ahead of Friday’s meeting with Senegal, is now backing a centre-forward previously valued at a reported £100 million to put those claret and blue struggles in the rearview mirror.
“He [has already] shown the type of player we know he is. And, hopefully, he’ll get the chance to show that in the next couple of games as well,” former Manchester United and Sunderland defender O’Shea says. “You can’t sit and sulk about it.
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“The Premier League is that elite level that, at the minute, you see all the teams already trying to get players in. You have to be at it and on it every day possible, doing everything you can.
“That’s what you have to do to get that place in the team, stay in the team.
“If you’re doing that, if you’re applying yourself as best you can and the manager’s not picking you for some reason, then you can look yourself in the mirror and say I’ve done everything I can.
“And the way Evan’s been training this week, hopefully there’ll be lots of good things to come.”
Ferguson Brighton return enhances West Ham’s striker concerns
As Evan Ferguson approaches the two-year anniversary of that fearsome hat-trick against Newcastle United – he is the fourth-youngest player ever to net a Premier League treble – the former Bohemians starlet heads into the summer stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Though with Danny Welbeck now 34 and Joao Pedro potentially set to become Brighton’s latest mega-money departure, there may still be a future at The Amex for a 20-year-old striker with so much time on his side.
As things stand, with Michail Antonio out of contract, Danny Ings departing and Evan Ferguson returning to the South Coast, Niclas Fullkrug will be West Ham’s only centre-forward come the start of July.
A whole host of strikers have been linked with a summer move to the London Stadium in recent weeks.
A source on behalf of the club told Hammers News on Tuesday, however, that West Ham are not pursuing St Etienne’s Lucas Stassin despite reports emerging out of France.