'Brilliant' – Former Everton and Manchester City ace lauds the Brighton star who rejected Liverpool

The 18-year-old has made the step-up to the Premier League with Brighton in impressive fashion and has also made his senior international debut for Ireland.

Ferguson has 10 appearances for Roberto De Zerbi's team since the World Cup and netted three goals from five starts, while his breakthrough for Ireland came in November with substitute appearances in friendlies against Malta and Norway.

Ferguson's link up play and eye for goal has been key for Albion of late and has helped De Zerbi cope with the recent injury to experienced frontrunner Danny Welbeck. The teenager will now likely play a vital role for the seventh placed Seagulls as they target European qualification this season.

It's been a fast rise for the former Bohemians attacker who rejected advances from Liverpool and joined Albion in 2021 as he thought he would have a clearer pathway to the first team with Brighton. It seems to have been the right choice and his performances of late saw him linked with Chelsea and also Tottenham, who view Ferguson as a potential successor to Harry Kane - high praise indeed!

Former Manchester City skipper and Ireland international Richard Dunne knows Ferguson from his youth football days and believes Brighton have a real talent on their hands but more importantly a player with a strong mentality.

Ferguson has been tipped as the striker Brighton have missed since Glenn Murray in his pomp but Dunne also feels he can have a fine international career with Ireland.

“With the grounding and parents he’s got, he’ll have the right guidance, he’s not someone who’ll be sidetracked,” said Dunne, speaking at the launch of the EA SPORTS LOI Academy development programme at FAI headquarters in Abbotstown.

“What he’s done in the last couple of months is brilliant. Without putting loads of pressure on him, we’ve been crying out for a centre-forward for a long time.

"He may be, hopefully, the one we can start to believe in. I did one session with Evan when I was with the Under-16s. It was the first time I’d seen him play.

“Even then you were looking at him going, ‘Jaysus’. Sometimes you see centre-forwards and you think, ‘He’s missing this, this and that’. He seemed to have everything.”