Evan Ferguson - Top Irish Prospect

Yes, might be in the minority but I'm not sold on him.

You might not be 'sold' but you would admit he is a good Premier League player right? Maybe you dont see the future superstar potential but he already is a good player. A good Premier League player will cost you around 50m already. To think you would get a good Premier League player that could develop in one of the best players for just 50m just seems a bit out of touch with the current market.
 
You might not be 'sold' but you would admit he is a good Premier League player right? Maybe you dont see the future superstar potential but he already is a good player. A good Premier League player will cost you around 50m already. To think you would get a good Premier League player that could develop in one of the best players for just 50m just seems a bit out of touch with the current market.
I don't know yet, my big question mark is how does he fare outside of Brighton who seem to be purring on all cylinders right now and creating chances galore? £50m isn't peanuts, there aren't that many clubs who will sanction higher bids than that and be able to pay the wages he would assumably want - then you assess which one of them would be able to offer him a starting spot and it's a very small %
 
I don't know yet, my big question mark is how does he fare outside of Brighton who seem to be purring on all cylinders right now and creating chances galore? £50m isn't peanuts, there aren't that many clubs who will sanction higher bids than that and be able to pay the wages he would assumably want - then you assess which one of them would be able to offer him a starting spot and it's a very small %
A club like Aston Villa would sign him tomorrow for £50million. A young Premier League forward, a teenager who is matching a lot of Rooney’s records from Everton, is not going to move for anything less than 9 figures when it comes his time to leave Brighton.
 
Lets get a right footer down the right, a left footer down the left, sign him, play him and Hojlund up top and go back to 442. It's the way forward.
 
I don't know yet, my big question mark is how does he fare outside of Brighton who seem to be purring on all cylinders right now and creating chances galore? £50m isn't peanuts, there aren't that many clubs who will sanction higher bids than that and be able to pay the wages he would assumably want - then you assess which one of them would be able to offer him a starting spot and it's a very small %

He's exceeding his xG, so his current goal tally isn't because of an excess of chances.
 
Lets get a right footer down the right, a left footer down the left, sign him, play him and Hojlund up top and go back to 442. It's the way forward.
Playing a proper 4-4-2 with wingers and strikers against City flooding the midfield with 4 midfielders, 2 wingers who play like midfielders and 3 defenders who are comfortable in midfield would be comical.

I’d quite like to see it though!
 
A club like Aston Villa would sign him tomorrow for £50million. A young Premier League forward, a teenager who is matching a lot of Rooney’s records from Everton, is not going to move for anything less than 9 figures when it comes his time to leave Brighton.
Would they? They have Watkins who is also on 5PL goals and has the track record of hitting 10-15 a season with them - albeit they look a lot better this season so we'll see if that translates to a higher total. This isn't me saying he's crap I just just wonder about the market and think United putting in a £50m bid wasn't as ridiculous as the article made out.
 
Would they? They have Watkins who is also on 5PL goals and has the track record of hitting 10-15 a season with them - albeit they look a lot better this season so we'll see if that translates to a higher total. This isn't me saying he's crap I just just wonder about the market and think United putting in a £50m bid wasn't as ridiculous as the article made out.
I’d say every big-ish mid-table club would find £50million down the back of the sofa if it would get them Evan Ferguson.
 
He's exceeding his xG, so his current goal tally isn't because of an excess of chances.
I'm not sure you can read xG to tell the amount of chances a player has had, it is more and aggregator of chance quality (and so his latter two goals in the hattrick will skyrocket his actual goals versus xG for example). He looks to be a good finisher from what I can see - just looking at how much he improved on last year is impressive so far.
 
Playing a proper 4-4-2 with wingers and strikers against City flooding the midfield with 4 midfielders, 2 wingers who play like midfielders and 3 defenders who are comfortable in midfield would be comical.

I’d quite like to see it though!

Yeah, it might not be pretty. But 442 has to come back in some guise, it will hopefully happen. Players chasing balls into channels, centerbacks actually having to defend against players who are going to knock the shite out of them.

If we're going to build a side for direct football, like ETH says, it doesn't get much better than going for 442 with 2 lads up top and proper wingers down the outside.
 
Yeah, it might not be pretty. But 442 has to come back in some guise, it will hopefully happen. Players chasing balls into channels, centerbacks actually having to defend against players who are going to knock the shite out of them.

If we're going to build a side for direct football, like ETH says, it doesn't get much better than going for 442 with 2 lads up top and proper wingers down the outside.

Lets just hire Big Sam too.
 
No really I think Palmer has looked very good for Chelsea and so do most people, unless you're joking

Errrrrr the point is that Ferguson is rated far higher than Palmer who had barely gotten a sniff at City and still cost 40m quid. That would mean that Ferguson would command a significantly higher fee.
 
Ah right, yeah I agree he would. I thought you were suggesting Palmer wasn't worth that fee.

Well it was a fairly sizeable fee for a 21 year old with not much gametime under his belt. If he cost 40m quid, then I can only imagine what Brighton will want for Ferguson.
 
@tomaldinho1 you may not think he's all that, but 50m, really? Chelsea just dropped 40m on 21 year old Cole Palmer ffs.
Chelsea are the ones I can see being the exception as mentioned above, their transfer fees don't mean that everyone else just starts shelling out left right and centre though. I still think there is a limited pool of clubs who fit the bill of being able to pay that much, need a CF who would (I assume) want to start, and also be a better proposition than Brighton. Who knows, maybe he'll go Real next summer for £75m!
 
Chelsea are the ones I can see being the exception as mentioned above, their transfer fees don't mean that everyone else just starts shelling out left right and centre though. I still think there is a limited pool of clubs who fit the bill of being able to pay that much, need a CF who would (I assume) want to start, and also be a better proposition than Brighton. Who knows, maybe he'll go Real next summer for £75m!

I just don't think 50m is much at all for an 18 year old who is rated that highly. If someone paid that and he didn't live up to all the hype; I'm sure they could recoup the fee (plus likely more) when he's 22/23 as at worst, he'll be an average PL player.
 
I just don't think 50m is much at all for an 18 year old who is rated that highly. If someone paid that and he didn't live up to all the hype; I'm sure they could recoup the fee (plus likely more) when he's 22/23 as at worst, he'll be an average PL player.
Just turned 19 and, as such, is deadwood mate. In seriousness, I agree - I have no issue with being wrong here but I just think £50min cash for a player (who let's remember when the bid was made he hadn't had the good start to this season) who had had a season of PL footy is a fair offer.
 
Just turned 19 and, as such, is deadwood mate. In seriousness, I agree - I have no issue with being wrong here but I just think £50min cash for a player (who let's remember when the bid was made he hadn't had the good start to this season) who had had a season of PL footy is a fair offer.

I think the fact that Brighton will likely charge, and get, much more than that is a sign of the ludicrous times we live in. 50m feels like what 15m was 10 odd years ago.
 
Playing a proper 4-4-2 with wingers and strikers against City flooding the midfield with 4 midfielders, 2 wingers who play like midfielders and 3 defenders who are comfortable in midfield would be comical.

I’d quite like to see it though!
Our more compact defending approach is not working very well against City either, so would not be that much worse i assume.
But the biggest issue is our central midfield, we haven`t even looked half decent there since Carricks last great season in 12-13, and nothing will work properly until we have top quality in there again.
But yeah, the thought of having 2 strikers playing together puts a smile on my face. Cole and Yorkes chemistry was a sight to behold
 
But why would he want to move from Brighton to a club who are likely to be at the same level/lower?
That’s not my point. My point is that anyone and everyone who feasibly could begin to afford him at £50m because he’s worth we’ll beyond that.
 
:drool: Yes please

Ferguson is actually perfect for it imo. He can drop deep and play the link up roll.

Sounds like the way backward actually. About 20+ years backwards

Pep is basically playing a variation of 442. Obviously there is a lot of fluidity to it, but at it's very core it's a 442.

Ederson
Walker Stones Dias Ake
Foden Rodri Silva Grealish
Haaland Alvarez​
 
Ferguson is actually perfect for it imo. He can drop deep and play the link up roll.



Pep is basically playing a variation of 442. Obviously there is a lot of fluidity to it, but at it's very core it's a 442.

Ederson
Walker Stones Dias Ake
Foden Rodri Silva Grealish
Haaland Alvarez​
I don’t think even nominally you can say City ever play in 2 banks of 4, they play a weird 3-2-2-2-1 with as many bodies packed centrally as possible
 
I don’t think even nominally you can say City ever play in 2 banks of 4, they play a weird 3-2-2-2-1 with as many bodies packed centrally as possible

Like I said there is fluidity to it, but when they defend they often drop into 2 banks of 4. He basically plays with 4 CBs across the back line. He new he needed a more solid base to build on, so he scrapped having all out attacking fullbacks. I think the Real Madrid game where they lost in the last few mins because of poor left back defending played a part in this decision.

To me the very basis of his set up comes from 442. In attack I think it becomes more of 3124 or 3214, at times it even becomes a 235. There's a lot of variations going on.

Look I don't think any team is going to come and play a flat 442, that's probably not going to happen any time soon. But there is a flexibility of having players who are suited to that setup rather than the 433 with inverted wingers. I think it allows you greater options in terms of your overall attacking approach play. It also gives you a sounder base structure to your defence as you can drop into a block of 2 banks of 4 if you need to.
 
He'd be mad to join this shit show

I would be surprised if the lad wants to move anywhere at the present moment. He is playing for a good team with a good coach & getting lots of playing time. He has a very bright future and I hope he has sensible people advising him on where his next move will be. Man Utd would be a very poor move for him at this point in time.
 
I would be surprised if the lad wants to move anywhere at the present moment. He is playing for a good team with a good coach & getting lots of playing time. He has a very bright future and I hope he has sensible people advising him on where his next move will be. Man Utd would be a very poor move for him at this point in time.

I knew a chap from where I grew up that ran away ... he was called Jeffrey Gurr. Is it you?
 
He's the sort of player we would have bought at any cost under Ferguson. Unfortunately we are 1 billion in the red and more or less in breach of FFP so don't have any money to spend in January and will likely have very little in the summer. The proposed takeover will not clear any debt and will be unlikely to inject much in the way of transfer funds. This player will end up at City, Arsenal, Newcastle or Chelsea (because FFP doesn't seem to apply to them).