Evan Ferguson's stock in world football continues to rise after the Irish teenager was today voted onto the PFA Young Player of the Year shortlist.
Ferguson joined Brighton back in January 2021, and in 18 months' time, he has become part of the first team. The Irish international had a stellar debut campaign for Brighton & Hove Albion, scoring 6 goals in the Premier League and two for his country. One of those came against Latvia on his international debut in March.
Ferguson is part of a six-player nomination list for the 2023 award. Other players include the likes of Manchester City's goal-machine Erling Haaland, Chelsea's new boy Moisés Caicedo, Arsenal's Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Martinelli, and finally, Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey are also included.
The current holder of the award is Saka. It is likely, though, that Saka will lose out on the award to Haaland, who scored 52 goals for Manchester City last season during their successful treble quest. He is also up for the senior award, which is the PFA Players' Player of the Year award.
Ferguson is the youngest member of the nomination list. The Bettystown native, born in 2004, will battle it out with the likes of Haaland, who was born in 2000, while Caicedo, Saka, Martinelli, and Ramsey were all born in 2001.
🇪🇨 Moisés Caicedo
🇳🇴 Erling Haaland
🏴 Bukayo Saka
🏴 Jacob Ramsey
🇧🇷 Gabriel Martinelli
🇮🇪 Evan Ferguson
The nominees for the 2023 PFA Young Player of the Year. 🏅 pic.twitter.com/RybiA1u8bd— Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 17, 2023
The last time an Irish player made such a short-list was back in 2011. Everton's Seamus Coleman made the PFA Young Player of the Year list that year, while Manchester City maverick Stephen Ireland was nominated two years earlier.
This comes a day after Brighton's Chief Executive, Paul Barber, said that the Irish sensation would not be 'sold for at least another five years'.
"In Evan's case, at least five years' time! Ultimately, the technical staff is making the key decisions on a player's development—whether they need more first-team games, a loan spell, or if we should consider a trade earlier or later," he stated during an interview on TalkSport.
"It's going to be a collective decision, driven by the technical staff. We're relying on them to make those judgments regarding a player's progress."
Brighton's upcoming match will be against Wolves on Saturday.
