FORMER ARSENAL PLAYER Ian Wright has heaped praise on Ireland and Brighton & Hove Albion's young teenage starlet Evan Ferguson and has claimed the 18-year-old Bettystown native has everything you'd want in a Premier League striker.
Ferguson made his debut for League of Ireland club Bohemian's in 2019 at the age of 14 in a preseason friendly against Chelsea.
He has since gone onto to make his Ireland senior debut, scored his first and second Premier League goals for Brighton this year, and become part of Roberto de Zerbi's high flying Brighton side at the age of 18.
Standing at 6 ft 2 inches, Ferguson has been likened to other Premier League strikers like Manchester City's Erling Haaland and West Ham's Gianluca Scamacca because of his big imposing figure.
Speaking about the Irish talent this week to Irish podcast Second Captains Wright, who knows a thing or two about putting the ball in the back of net gave his thoughts on Ferguson's sudden rise.
We chat to Ian Wright about how his childhood in South London shaped him as a footballer, why he hated his brief career in light entertainment, what it’s like to work with Roy Keane and what he makes of “our” Evan Ferguson
⚽️ https://t.co/uxcODKouWE pic.twitter.com/xttlD05X7h— Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) January 19, 2023
“I hope that he gets to play regularly, and Brighton start playing to his strengths and get him involved more,” he said. “I’d get the ball into him as soon as possible through those lines because he links the play very well, he’s got very intelligent movement in that last third, and he wants to get into the box.
“That’s what I would do. You look at him – he’s good in the air, he’s good on the floor, he makes good movement in the box, so he’s somebody who has got all the attributes.
“Now how can we get it to him quicker? I’m not saying Brighton have to launch it, but they’ve got another option now if he’s playing.
“They could play it through like we saw them do to Liverpool the other day, cut them to pieces, or they can go direct, get it into him, he can link play, people can go beyond him.
“They could do so many things with a striker who has got the capabilities that he’s got. He’s got everything. He’s got the size, he’s got the touch, he’s got the shooting power, he’s got the movement in the box.”
High-flying Brighton takes on Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
