FERGIE time.
In an era in which we are all concerned with sustainability — or at least should be — the above headline is a fine example of recycling.
For years, it referred to Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team and their knack for scoring late goals.
Now, it has been reconstituted to track the career of his namesake Evan, whose first name is also much-appreciated by sub-editors.
And now is the time for the 20-year-old to seize the opportunity afforded to him by a move to West Ham until the end of the season.
It was as far back as November that reports suggested the Ireland international would leave Brighton in this transfer window, most likely on loan.
It made sense given his lack of game-time for the Seagulls since an ankle operation towards the end of last season, with Fabian Hurzeler appointed as their new head coach in the meantime.
Fellow frontmen Danny Welbeck, Georginio Rutter and Joao Pedro all have at least three times the 390 minutes Ferguson has managed in the English top flight in 2024-25.
Hurzeler initially insisted there was no foundation to the reports but slowly but surely changed his tune to the point where it was not a question of whether he would leave but one of where to.
West Ham looks like a solid choice, with two of their three senior strikers sidelined. Michail Antonio may never play again because of his car crash. His campaign is certainly over.
Niclas Fullkrug is expected to be out for at least another two months with a hamstring injury.
The last rival standing is Danny Ings who, like Ferguson, has one Prem goal to his name this term.
As a result, attacking midfielder Lucas Paqueta has been asked to lead the line. Jarrod Bowen has done so too, including on his return from injury last night when he scored.
But his preferred position is out wide so there is a clearer path to regular football at the Hammers than at most Premier League clubs.
If the Meath native can flourish under Graham Potter, the gaffer who gave him his first taste of men’s football in England, then we can all breathe a little more easily and reassure ourselves that the past year was nothing more than growing pains.
But, with Brighton signing 19-year-old Stefanos Tzimas from PAOK for £22.9million after he impressed on loan stint at FC Nurnberg, it also indicates Ferguson may well need to consider a more permanent move away from England’s south coast.
The signing of the Greek teenager serves as another reminder of just how ruthless life is in the English Premier League.
And the fact that Ferguson has been loaned out rather than sold may be simply because Brighton reckon a solid second half to the season could help his market value recover some of the ground it has lost over the past 12 months.
HOPE OF THE NATION
Never mind that the entire Irish nation has dumped its hopes on Ferguson’s broad shoulders, it appears as though Brighton have already diverted their gaze to another bright young thing.
Ferguson’s task in the 14 Premier League matches remaining for West Ham may be as much to impress potential suitors rather than to try to persuade his parent club that he has a part to play in their future.
And it will not be just those at Bohemians — because of the 12.5 percent sell-on clause agreed four years ago — who will be following his fortunes closely but those who believe that World Cup qualification is a realistic possibility.
Because, despite his difficulties at club level, Ferguson remains a key player for Heimir Hallgrimsson.
He featured in all six of Ireland’s matches since the Icelander took over, starting the last four, meaning he has almost as many minutes in international football this year as he does in the Premier League.
He scored against Finland and could feel hard done by not having been awarded a penalty away to both Greece and England, a memory-prompt for the trouble he can cause defenders.
Ireland are not wholly reliant on him as they might have been in a previous era. In 2018, Aiden O’Brien — now 31 and playing for Woking in the National League after a spell with Shelbourne — started three games for Ireland up front.
He did score, in a friendly against Poland, but the forward options available to Hallgrimsson are not comparable to the tail end of the reign of Martin O’Neill, much of which had been spent lamenting the fact Robbie Keane was not any younger.
The Under-21s did not offer much hope for the future either. Reece Grego-Cox, Joe Quigley, Ronan Hale and Ryan Manning were the strikers named in the first squad of the year.
The first two play in the National League, Hale — now with Ross County — has switched to Northern Ireland and Manning has made progress, but as a full-back.
That forced people to look further down the conveyor belt to see what might be coming down the track.
Troy Parrott, Adam Idah, Aaron Connolly, Michael Obafemi, Glen McAuley and Ryan Cassidy were the ones creating the most amount of excitement.
McAuley was at Liverpool while Cassidy came through at Watford. Neither man has played professional football for a number of years. Connolly is still trying to reclaim some of the ground he has lost since breaking through at Brighton, joining Millwall from Sunderland this month in search of regular football.
Obafemi spent the second half of last season at The New Den, on loan from Burnley, and is spending this season with Plymouth on loan again.
The Pilgrims are rooted to the bottom of the Championship and he has started just a third of their 30 league games, scoring twice, so it is hardly going as well as he would’ve hoped.
PRIME EXAMPLES
But Idah and Parrott are prime examples of how a stalling of a career does not have to turn into a nosedive.
Idah’s hat-trick for Norwich City in the FA Cup against Preston North End at the age of 18 set the bar ridiculously high.
He has not been a prolific striker, and may never be, and that might explain why he is not a guaranteed starter for Celtic.
But his two goals — and the quality of his finishing — against Aston Villa in the Champions League should address some of the snootiness about his exploits in Scotland, including a cup final winner last season. He hit the target again on Sunday against Motherwell.
Admittedly, it might be a bit tougher against Bayern Munich in the play-off round but what a stage for the Cork man to test himself.
Similarly, there can be a tendency for some to diminish Parrott’s record in the Eredivisie but Uefa rank it as the sixth-best top flight and the Europa League is providing the Dubliner with some sterner tests.
Already, he has scored against Roma, Ferencvaros and Elfsborg, and played against old club Spurs, Athletic Bilbao, Fenerbahce — managed by Jose Mourinho who gave him his Tottenham debut — and Galatasaray.
They will face Gala — with whom they drew 1-1 at home — again over two legs this month. And Parrott’s uninspiring loan moves at lower-division clubs are now a distant memory with 14 goals already to his name this season.
Parrott turns 23 today, Idah 24 a week later. Ferguson is only 20 and primed to reinforce why he had jumped ahead of those older than him in the pecking order.
It is Fergie time again.
