Evan Ferguson completes Roma move - Can former Brighton wonderkid reignite career?

It's New Years Eve 2022. An 18-year-old Evan Ferguson becomes Brighton's youngest ever Premier League goalscorer in a 4-2 defeat to Arsenal, after brushing off one of the league's best defenders, William Saliba. Fast forward to September 2023, and aged 18 years and 318 days, Ferguson nets a hat-trick against Newcastle making him the fourth youngest hat-trick scorer in Premier League history. There was huge hype around the teenage Irishman, and many believed it was something of a formality that he would sign for a top club in the future and play at the very highest level. However, that's not how things have panned out since.

Since that aforementioned hat-trick, Ferguson has scored just three goals in 44 Premier League games for Brighton and West Ham, who he was at loan at for the second half of last season. However, this summer, the 20-year-old is close to a big move that could just reignite his career. On Wednesday, Serie A side Roma confirmed the signing of the young striker on loan, paying an initial €3 million loan fee, and with a €37m option to buy clause. Ferguson has already experienced a number of the ups and downs that can come in football at an early age, but could a move to the Italian capital spark the early promise he showed in the Premier League?

Evan Ferguson's market value development 

Ferguson's market value development, already at just 20 years of age, resembles a similar pattern to what many player's market value graphs look like when they have finished their career. As illustrated in the graphic below, his value has already seen a huge rise and a gradual fall. In November 2022, Ferguson had a market value of €1m, but that then began to shoot up as he showed such early promise. By June 2023, he was worth €30m, and in October of the same year, his market value had reached a career-high of €65m.

 

However, the pendulum then began to swing the other way. As game-time became less frequent, and his goalscoring rate fell through the floor, Ferguon's market value began to drop. Down to €60m in March 2024. Down to €40m by December 2024. The Irishman had hoped a loan move to West Ham for the second half of the last campaign could be a springboard for him to begin progressing again, but the move was nothing short of a disaster. It coincided with his market value dropping by a further €15m to his current market value of just €25m - less than half of what it was less than two years ago. Will his market value rise again in Italy?

Can Evan Ferguson revitalise his career at Roma?

In recent years, we have seen a number of Premier League British players go to the Serie A and make an impact. Striker Tammy Abraham left Chelsea for Roma in 2021, and scored 17 goals in his first season in the Italian top-flight. Although his numbers did begin to dwindle after that first campaign. Last summer, Scottish forward Che Adams left Southampton to sign for Torino, and managed nine league goals for a team that finished 11th in the division. Whilst midfielder Scott McTominay enjoyed a dream first season at Napoli, helping his team win the Scudetto, whilst picking up the league's Player of the Season award. If Irishman Ferguson can make half the impact that McTominay has had in Naples in Rome, then it will have been some season.

Roma appointed former Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini as their new manager this summer, and there is hope that the veteran can get Roma challenging for the top places again, after the experienced Claudio Ranieri came in to steady the ship and help turn the club's fortunes around last term. Aniello Luciano is a Content Manager for Transfermarkt in Italy and tells us more about the kind of team Ferguson will be joining: "Having Gasperini as coach generates high expectations in itself considering what he did with Atalanta. But for the combination to work he needs time to work on tactical principles and get the players best suited to his ideas."

"Gasperini's game is based on clear mechanisms in which all the gears must turn in the same direction," Luciano continued. "There is a need for athleticism and concentration, plus individual sacrifice for collective progress. Ferguson could be the type of striker enhanced by Gasperini's football ideas. Firstly, he will be motivated to return to the levels of 2023/24 before the knee injury slowed down his full explosion. The Italian coach has always favoured strikers who love to be protagonists but with a good work ethic. Forwards who know how to receive the ball, but strike quickly. I think the Irishman can score lots of goals for Roma. But it also depends on the other players who will be made available to Gasperini, as well as the patience of the club and fans." It's a daring move for Ferguson to make, but at this stage of his career, it might just be the perfect one.