BRIGHTON MANAGER GRAHAM Potter sees a “really big future” ahead for Irish striker Evan Ferguson after the 17-year-old scored his first senior goal in his side’s 3-0 League Cup second-round victory at Forest Green on Wednesday night.
Ireland U21 international Ferguson finished the job for the Seagulls with a clever near-post finish, and he also provided the assist for Deniz Undav’s opener at The New Lawn.
A native of Bettystown, Co. Meath, Ferguson joined Premier League side Brighton from Bohemians in January 2021 and has since featured on several occasions in both English domestic cup competitions, also making his Premier League debut as a substitute against Burnley in February of this year.
The St Kevin’s Boys product has for a long time trained with Brighton’s first team and, speaking after his performance on Wednesday night, manager Potter admitted that it’s easy to forget Ferguson’s age.
Evan Ferguson's first senior goal for Brighton! 🇮🇪⚽️🔥
— Kenny's Kids (@KennysKids) August 24, 2022
The first of many from the 17-year-old, I'm sure 🙌#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/jYC33NFvJO
“He is an intelligent player for someone so young,” Potter said.
“You look at him and you have to remind yourself he is only 17, so he’s got an exciting future, I think.
“He’s level-headed and a humble guy who again wants to just play football, wants to score goals, help the team, so he has got lots of nice attributes, good movement, intelligent, so we are happy with him.
He is a 17-year-old so I want to be careful with him in terms of his development, but he is training with us every day and never looked out of place. The boys know his quality and attributes, so I wouldn’t want to rush him into anything but at the same time we really believe that he is going to have a really big future.
Ferguson, who turns 18 in October, has been capped by Ireland all the way up along at U15, U17 and U21 level. He has played eight times for Jim Crawford’s 21s since his first call-up, alongside Brighton team-mate Andrew Moran of Dublin, this time last year.
