With no goals for Brighton since the end of November, concern over the form of Evan Ferguson seems to have been growing by the week.
One minute, Ferguson was a future Ballon d’Or winner set to rewrite every goal scoring record known to humankind. The next, some Albion fans are saying he should be sold because he is overrated whilst comparing him to Aaron Connolly.
Such is life when you burst onto the scene in the style Ferguson did through 2023. Ferguson’s 11 top flight goals equalled Wayne Rooney’s record for most by a teenager in a calendar year.
The same Rooney who went onto become Manchester United and England’s leading goal scorer. You cannot be a bad player when you are joining Rooney in the record books.
All young players go through peaks and troughs in form. It is part of the development process. Ferguson is no different, even if some ex-players and pundits might use his drought to publicly offer ridiculous takes in an attempt to go viral on social media.
One former Republic of Ireland international not entertaining such an approach for a second is Richard Dunne. Speaking to instantcasinos.com, Dunne said the Albion’s drop off in form over recent months was to blame for Ferguson’s slender run, rather than the teenager being overhyped.
“It’s natural for players to have ups and downs,” Dunne said. “He was previously playing in a team that was performing well, but now they’re not playing so well, so there will be a degree of discontent within the side. They’re neither getting the results that they want, nor are they scoring the goals that they hoped they would.”
“His dip in form has coincided with the rest of the team – they’re not creating the chances that they were towards the end of last season and they’re underperforming a little bit, but as a young lad I wouldn’t get too worried about it.”
“Part of your career is learning from the ups and the downs – he’s shown that he is a quality player and he has a lot of talent, he just needs to be patient and it will come back to him.”
Dunne also went against the grain by suggesting that Ferguson should remain with Brighton for next season when others have talked about him moving to one of the European Super League Elite Six.
Match of the Day presenter and man hated by the Daily Mail Gary Lineker suggested Ferguson as the forward Spurs should sign when Harry Kane moved to Bayern Munich.
Ferguson has also been linked with Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea. The last of those destination seems unlikely; Ferguson has always come across as a wise, old head on young shoulders.
He would have to be borderline insane to move to Stamford Bridge, having seen what the Blues have done for the careers of Graham Potter, Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo, Robert Sanchez and the rest.
Speaking on Ferguson remaining at the Amex, Dunne added: “I think he’s got the ability to be the main striker at Brighton, so he doesn’t need to be in any rush to move on.”
“You never know what’s going to happen when you move to another club, so I think he’s in the right place at the moment.”
Wise words from Dunne, who was always popular at WAB Towers even before he spoke up in defence of Ferguson and in favour of the Albion.
How can you not admire and respect the man who holds the joint-record for most Premier League red cards (eight along with Patrick Vieira and Duncan Ferguson) and stands head and shoulders above his peers with 10 own goals?
