When James Milner speaks, people tend to listen and he's had plenty to say about Ireland striker Evan Ferguson.
38-year-old Milner joined Ferguson at Brighton last summer it hasn't taken him long to realise the strengths of a forward who is literally half his age.
In a conversation with his former teammate Steve Sidwell for TNT Sport, Milner has been waxing lyrical about the Meath native, highlighting his finishing ability as well as his attitude.
"Great lad first and foremost," says Milner, when asked what he likes about Ferguson.
"Wants to learn, wants to get about which is so important. He's at a great place in terms of the club and the manager he is working with, the senior players he's got to work off, looking at someone like Welbz [Danny Welbeck] and how he goes about his business and how he plays.
"He's at a great spot but his finishing is phenomenal to be honest, so good. If a chance is falling, you want it fall to him.
"We were joking about it but West Ham, he didn't score but a chance where he just made it out of nothing, just knocked it over, left foot, hits it instinctively."
"His finishing is phenomenal"
"He's got a lot to learn but he has so much ability already"
Evan Ferguson has already made a great impression on PL veteran James Milner ✅
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James Milner hails Brighton teammate Evan Ferguson
Despite netting 18 goals for Brighton since the beginning of last year, Ferguson's career is still in its infancy. Ireland fans will be delighted to hear though that Milner sees plenty of room for improvement in his young teammate.
"He's got a lot to learn still," the three-time Premier League winner goes on. "In so many areas he can improve, that's normal for a young guy but his ability already, I've seen massive improvements in his hold up play since the start of the season.
"Depending on what team you're playing, his finishing might be enough for one team, just being in the box but obviously how we play, the hold up play, the cleverness, the movement to fit into the style of play, that's important as well.
"Learning off Welbz and people like that, that's important. His attitude is fantastic but his ability is so good. It's important that we protect him, there's hype around him and rightly there should be but he's definitely in the right place at this moment in time and hopefully he'll keep banging them in for us."
18 November 2023; Evan Ferguson of Republic of Ireland before the UEFA EURO 2024 Championship qualifying group B match between Netherlands and Republic of Ireland at Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
James Milner closes in on record
On Monday night, Milner was named in the starting line-up for Brighton's Premier League meeting with Wolves, bringing his number of appearances in the competition up to 633.
This puts him out on his own in second place the all-time list, ahead of Ryan Giggs and now just 20 behind his old Aston Villa and Manchester City mucker Gareth Barry.
For someone with such experience to be speaking so highly of Ferguson will be music to the ears of Ireland fans but if his attitude is anything like Milner says it is, he will be keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
