Evan Ferguson will bounce back from struggles – Gary Dicker
Ireland striker Evan Ferguson has been backed to rediscover his best form by a man who worked with him at Brighton.
The 20-year-old is finding regular minutes hard to come by this season following a lengthy lay-off, with the resurgent Danny Welbeck, fit-again Joao Pedro and recent signing Georginio Rutter also competing for starting berths in the forward line.
Following a goalless spell stretching 11 months, Ferguson has scored for both club and country in recent weeks and will be hoping he showed enough in the international window to impress manager Fabian Hurzeler ahead of Saturday’s Premier League fixture away to Bournemouth.
Gary Dicker, who this week announced that he has taken up a new position at MLS outfit Charlotte FC, spent three-and-a-half years coaching in the Seagulls’ academy and believes the Amex Stadium is still the right place for the Meath native.
“As a coach developer, you try to build in these experiences for a young player but you can’t replicate everything in football and he’s going through a spell,” Dicker told the Irish Independent.
“People forget he’s been injured for six months when they’re saying he hadn’t scored in however long. Everyone is going to have ups and downs on their journey. It’s completely normal but I know what people are like in terms of jumping on him and starting to panic.
“It’s part of football and it will do him the world of good later on in his career as he’s learning about himself and what it’s like to fight and scrap. He’s got all that stuff.
“Obviously I know him and I’ve seen him first hand and I ain’t worried. Yeah, he has struggled and hasn’t got as much game time as he would have wanted but he is desperate to play and desperate to do well.
“I’m sure he will get back in the team and you just need to take your chance – I’ve no worries about that. “You forget how young these people are and how much everything changes in their life. They don’t change but everything around them changes. So it’s not easy but one thing I will say is their mentality, their love for the game and wanting to do well is always there. I can’t see it being a problem.”
Dicker felt a huge sense of pride on Sunday as six players who have come through Brighton’s system represented Ireland.
While Andrew Moran and Jayson Molumby joined Ferguson in the senior team’s heavy defeat to England at Wembley, Mark O’Mahony, Jamie Mullins and Jacob Slater all featured for Jim Crawford’s U-21s in a 3-2 win over Sweden in Marbella – with Mullins and O’Mahony on the scoresheet.
A brilliant player,” he replied when asked about Moran, who is currently on-loan at Stoke City while O’Mahony has been farmed out to Portsmouth for the season.
“He should have been in that senior Ireland squad a long time ago. I get that the U-21s wanted to qualify but for me he should have been in and around the senior team. He has got so much talent and he’s something we haven’t got.
“Mark came over on trial and after one session I was like ‘I like him’. The hard work he has put in since arriving has been second to none. We will always say, talent will get you in the door but it doesn’t keep you in there.
“Jamie has probably been our most consistent player in the Brighton U-21s in the last 18 months, and Jacob has just got into the U-21s playing left-back. It was nice to see him make his debut against Sweden.”
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