REPUBLIC OF IRELAND MANAGER Stephen Kenny has praised Brighton & Hove Albion youngster Evan Ferguson for his breakout season in the Premier League but has also admitted that there is still a lot to learn about the Ireland star.
This week the Brighton starlet scored the winner in the FA Cup against Stoke City, which has only raised his already growing profile in football.
Ferguson (18) has scored 5 goals for Brighton this season and is being tipped to start in Ireland's opening Euro 2024 game against France later this month.
Ferguson last played for Ireland in the November friendlies but has not been capped in a senior game for Ireland. As things stand Ferguson can still play for England, but the chances of that happening are extremely remote.
Ireland has several forwards in the likes of the Championship and League One, but Ferguson's seamless transition from youth football to first team football in the Premier League has given the Bettystown native has a golden chance to fully declare for Ireland when Ireland take on France.
“What Evan does is he makes the game looks simple. He takes the ball in, he protects it very well, he lays it off, he has good movement in the box, he has good ability to score goals with good movement and good finishing," said Kenny to RTE Sport on Thursday.
“He has the ability to score goals, he scores headed goals which nowadays forwards are not as prolific at scoring headed goals, but he scores headed goals and you know he’s good in the air.
With the visit of World Cup finalists France looming, @Corktod spoke to Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny ahead of the European qualifying campaign pic.twitter.com/uNx1WILdpM
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 2, 2023
“He scores goals in the box, he’s got good intelligent movement, he doesn’t complicate it, he’s not someone who dribbles at people at pace. He has good awareness and is a good finisher.
“But it’s early days for him and we’re still learning about him. He’s just come through Brighton’s system, and Bohs, and into the Brighton first team quicker than we could have anticipated.”
Ireland also has the likes of Michael Obafemi, Adam Idah, Chiedozie Ogbene and Troy Parrott to choose from this month and Kenny believes the diversity will only be a good thing for Ireland going forward.
“There is good competition. I think the characteristics of the forwards now are different to two years ago, completely different characteristics and profile of player.
“Now, all of a sudden, we’ve got Adam Idah fit, Michael Obafemi played his first game last night since November. But Michael Obafemi, Adam Idah, Chiedozie Ogbene, Will Keane, on top of that on top of the players that were already there initially.
“So those type of players will be different in that we have a lot of speed in the team now. It can be important at international level. We know all those players still have improving to do, but the profile of the forwards now is different to what we had, that makes us quite a potent team.”
Ireland's game against France will start at 7.45pm on Saturday March 27.
