BRIGHTON BOSS ROBERTO de Zerbi believes that Evan Ferguson’s recent form has shown that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

And he vowed to do whatever he can to help the Ireland youngster reach his potential.

The 19-year-old is nearing the end of a breakthrough 2023 in which he scored 11 Premier League goals — matching Wayne Rooney’s record for a teenager in a calendar year.

His eye-catching form earned him another new contract — his third in a little more than a year — which could keep at Brighton until 2029.

But Ferguson has only scored once in his last six starts in all competitions, with De Zerbi pointing to a bad run of luck with injuries as he highlighted the dip in form.

The Italian challenged Ferguson to “help himself” take his game to the next level, but said he would do everything he can to help a player who is “like my son”.

“For the young, young player, you can expect different type of performances, no?” De Zerbi said ahead of Brighton’s trip to Crystal Palace on Thursday.

“There is a time when they play very well, they score — for example, Julio Enciso, Evan Ferguson — but in different moments, they maybe can suffer [from] the level of competition.

“I think in the last two months Evan suffered from injury, from other things, but he can play better.

“The level of Evan is higher than he is playing in this moment.

“We have to help him. He has to help himself first of all, to understand better the play. But he’s very young.

“He is like my son and if I can, I’ll try everything to help him, because he’ll become a great player for sure.”