Fit again striker Evan Ferguson is "ready to go" as he attempts to ignite both his own season and the Republic of Ireland's Nations League campaign in the coming days.
The Brighton man has played just a measly 120 minutes for club and country this season as an ankle injury hampered his progress with the in-form Danny Welbeck leading the line up top for the Seagulls since Ferguson's return to fitness.
He was an unused substitute in Sunday’s thrilling 3-2 comeback win over Tottenham but the 19-year-old is hoping that the games against Finland and Greece this week can provide an outlet to again show his worth.
"It’s obviously not easy as a player [being injured] but it’s probably the first period I’ve had of it and people will tell you to expect the up and downs," Ferguson said ahead of Thursday clash with Finland in Helsinki.
"When you’re in it, it’s not a nice place but I’m out of it now and I feel good and I'm ready to go."
Ferguson’s currency is goals and he made headlines last September by becoming just the fourth Premier League player to score a hat-trick before their 18th birthday having hit Newcastle for three. Given that two of the three others who achieved that feat were Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen, the late Chris Bart-Williams the fourth, then it’s not surprising that there was such interest in his prodigious talents.
Since that day though, Ferguson has only found the net three times for Ireland or Brighton and is still to get off the mark this season.
Despite the wait, the Meath man has said that he’ll not be forcing it if given the opportunity to start for Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side.
"Obviously it’s good to score goals as a striker, (it’d) maybe get me back into a flow of getting that rhythm of back scoring goals again, what I want to do.
"I wouldn’t say I'm going out of my way to score a goal; I’m just playing how I’m playing and I’m not trying to force it. If you start doing that, you start overthinking stuff and you can end up just going backwards."
Goal droughts aren’t just exclusive to individuals in the squad though with Ireland’s six games in 2024 so far producing just two of them, both of those coming a 2-1 friendly win over Hungary where Adam Idah gave the side the lead before Troy Parrot’s last-gasp winner on the breakaway.
Ferguson, however, feels that it’s a camp full of ambition before their two away days with their visit to Finland being followed by Sunday’s clash in Greece.
"I think everyone feels confident," he said.
"No one wants to come in and lose two games so I think we just need to come together and realise where we are and go from there."
"Maybe it's just from the fact that we haven’t picked up the results that we’ve wanted," he added.
"It could be a confidence thing, I think when we get the ball rolling and we pick up points and get a few wins, I think it could be a different story.
"It’s easy to look at the negatives when you’re not doing well."
Assistant coach John O’Shea, who was acting as interim manager for that Hungary win at the Aviva, also provided backing for Ferguson to rediscover his goal-scoring touch.
"I think we all know what Evan has done already at international and at club level so we just want him back up to speed as quickly as we can in terms of fully fit, games under his belt and knowing what he can produce," said O’Shea, who had said on Monday that analysis of the Irish players was 'too derogatory’.
"Just getting that consistency going and then we’ll see the levels he can reach."
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
