It feels somewhat inevitable that Evan Ferguson will end up the subject of a big-money move away from Brighton if he continues on his upward trajectory in the coming years.
The 19-year-old Irish striker is among the world's most exciting young attackers, becoming the fastest teenager to reach ten Premier League goals since a little-known Liverpudlian by the name of Wayne Rooney.
His rate of scoring has slowed this season but no one is under any illusions. If he fulfils his promise, Evan Ferguson will be among the world's very best strikers. With his immense promise, there will naturally be a push from the world's biggest clubs to sign up the Bettystown native.
Ferguson was a Manchester United fan as a child (hilariously saying that it was a privilege to play alongside Danny Welbeck for Brighton, given Welbeck's history with United), and that is the prospective destination mentioned most often for the young Irishman.
Understandably, the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal have also been mentioned in relation to Ferguson - but the latest reports that Chelsea are prepared to break the British transfer record to sign the ex-Bohs man should have alarm bells ringing for Ferguson and those supporting him in the early stages of his career.
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Evan Ferguson should be wary of Chelsea links
Evan Ferguson made his senior debut at the age of just 14 for Bohemians in a 2019 friendly against Frank Lampard's Chelsea at Dalymount Park, and his rise since then has been meteoric.
Multiple reports have emerged this week that the opposition that day in Phibsboro are now prepared to break records to bring Ferguson to Stamford Bridge.
16 October 2023; Evan Ferguson of Republic of Ireland scores his side's first goal past Gibraltar goalkeeper Dayle Coleing during the UEFA EURO 2024 Championship qualifying group B match between Gibraltar and Republic of Ireland at Estádio Algarve in Faro, Portugal. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The Evening Standard reported on Thursday that Chelsea were interested in bringing Ferguson, and additional reports on Friday from talkSPORT suggest that the Blues would be willing to top the British transfer record to pry him from Brighton's grasp.
It would not be surprising for Chelsea to fork out big money for the youngster. After all, the current British record fee was paid by Chelsea themselves to Brighton just last summer with the £115 million acquisition of Moises Caicedo.
The experience of Caicedo at the Bridge should not fill Evan Ferguson or Irish football fans with confidence, should a similar move be made for him.
Caicedo has been poor this season in a thoroughly disjointed and misfiring Chelsea team, joining the litany of young players who have struggled to make any kind of meaningful impact since making the move to West London.
Since Todd Boehly took over at Chelsea in 2022, enormous money has been forked out on transfers, mostly for unproven young talent who have gone on to struggle under the spotlight at one of England's biggest clubs.
The money invested in players has not been reflected in any kind of meaningful success on the pitch, either. Last season saw Chelsea finish in the bottom half of the Premier League for the first time since 1996, and they are already on their fourth manager of the Boehly era.
It's clear that Chelsea are neither a stable nor thriving club, and any prospect of Evan Ferguson signing on the dotted line for the Pensioners should be voted down by those in his inner circle. On top of their misfiring performance on the pitch, it is equally clear that the environment at Chelsea has done nothing to encourage the positive development of young talent - exactly what should be prioritised by Ferguson in the relative youth of his career.
Chelsea's horrific track record with strikers
21 November 2023; Evan Ferguson of Republic of Ireland after the international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and New Zealand at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
If one takes a wider sample size than simply the fortunes of Chelsea under Todd Boehly, another worrying trend emerges. There is no kind way to say this: Chelsea's recent track record with strikers is diabolical.
Take the last ten years of forwards at Chelsea. The roll call is astonishing - since the 2014 transfer window, the following have passed through the doors of Stamford Bridge.
- Didier Drogba
- Diego Costa
- Romelu Lukaku (twice)
- Fernando Torres
- Demba Ba
- Radamel Falcao
- Alexandre Pato (you definitely forgot he played for Chelsea, didn't you?)
- Loic Remy
- Michy Batshuayi
- Alvaro Morata
- Olivier Giroud
- Gonzalo Higuain
- Timo Werner
- Kai Havertz
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
- Joao Felix
Can one say with confidence that any bar Drogba, Costa, and Giroud were successes at the club? If anything, the vast majority were abject failures.
Having trouble recalling Alexandre Pato's brief loan spell at Chelsea in 2016?
Yep, us too 🤯
Reply with one player you think most other fans will have totally forgotten had a stint at your club 📝 pic.twitter.com/VIeiUZVBE2— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 2, 2020
Something is broken at Chelsea, and moving to the club has been a death sentence for the careers of many strikers far more experienced and highly-rated than Evan Ferguson over the past decade.
This all comes before you consider the immense pressure that would be placed on the young shoulders of the Meathman should he be snapped up for a record fee this early in his career. Ferguson has seemed unfazed by the challenges placed ahead of him thus far and appears to have the necessary elite mentality to succeed at the highest level - but do we really want to see his mettle tested by the weight of a British record fee at a broken club like Chelsea?
One hopes that those around Ferguson know all of this and that the links to Chelsea will ultimately prove to be empty noise.
So much of Ireland's prospective success for the next decade and beyond will depend on Ferguson growing into the player he seems destined to become - and Chelsea is not the place for that growth to occur.
Thankfully, Ferguson seems devoted to Brighton in the short to medium term, and the Seagulls have created a wonderful environment in recent years for young players to prosper.
For Ireland and for Evan Ferguson, one simply has to hope that the pitfalls of a potential big-money move to a club like Chelsea will undo so much of that good work.
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