West Ham United can’t afford to delay integrating on-loan striker Evan Ferguson if they seriously intend to buy him. Since joining from Brighton in the January transfer window, he’s been relatively anonymous, overshadowed by Graham Potter’s preference for Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
Now, it’s time for Potter to unleash Ferguson, at least to determine if he’s a fit for the team’s rebuild.
With Niclas Füllkrug back in training, West Ham could face an awkward situation where the German striker returns before Ferguson has a chance to impress. The £27m signing from Dortmund has looked good in recent footage published by the club and his return from injury has been quicker than expected.
This raises questions about why Ferguson was loaned in the first place and presumably Brighton won’t be too impressed with the 20 year olds limited minutes so far.
With only 11 Premier League games left, it’s crucial to give the young Irish forward a chance to prove himself. Time is ticking.
If they are both equally fit, we should prioritise Fulkrug over Ferguson. We dont even have an obligation to buy Evan from Brighton so there is no upside. In contrast, we need Fulkrug to do well because we already signed up for so much money and we cannot afford to let his value continue going down. We are not the feeder club for Brighton, Evan Ferguson has to get into the squad on his own merit.
Could be Ferguson is part of a cunning plan to assess him and get him in permanently on the cheap. Chances of him having a full game between now and end of his loan appear very slim given that we will want our money’s worth from Danny Ings, Niclas Fullkrug and the need to give game time to Michail Antonio, Cry Summerville and the other youngsters.
Who’d be a manager under scrutiny?
COYI
Agree with Jay, can’t see the logic of getting someone in who is so rusty, surely should have gone for someone who could hit the ground running. Saying that, got to give the bloke some minutes.
I don’t think we have the funds to sign him anyway, Brighton are going to want a packet for him especially if he does start performing, plus we need strengthening in many areas owing to the incompetence of previous windows. Proof is in the pudding, so let’s wait and see….
Be good to see what Fullkrug can do. The loan striker might be Fullkrugs eventual successor if we make him a permanent signing at the end of the season but Potter knows what Ferguson can do and the lad has plenty of years ahead of him. Fullkrug is for the here and now.
We loaned him in the January transfer window. It is now March and he’s hardly kicked a ball. The decision to bring him to the club is questionable.
If he wasn’t fit enough to start for the first 2 months of a 4 month loan deal then we shouldn’t have wasted our time in the first instance.
Ferguson is nowhere near the player fullkrug is.
How would you know?