Irish striker Evan Ferguson has signed on loan with AS Roma from Brighton.
Ireland international Evan Ferguson will train with his new teammates at Roma today for the first time after his loan move from Brighton was confirmed.
Roma have stumped up a loan fee, in the region of €3m, to land Ferguson for a season with the option to buy at the end of the campaign if the loan deal is deemed to be a success.
A fee of €35m, in terms of a permanent deal, has been mentioned in the Italian media as Brighton were forced to come down from their initial valuation of €45m for the Meath native. His former clubs St Kevin’s and Bohemians will be entitled to a slice of that fee – though not the loan fee – if and when the move is made permanent.
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“AS Roma is delighted to announce the signing of Evan Ferguson from Brighton & Hove Albion. The deal ends on loan with an option to buy,” the club said this morning after he was unveiled. Roma also stated that Ferguson will wear the No. 11 shirt.
They are currently in pre-season mode with a series of friendly games lined up – including one away to Everton – before the Serie A season begins next month. Roma have also qualified automatically for the group stages of the Europa League.
Ferguson was not part of the Brighton squad which travelled to Spain for their own pre-season programme as they had indicated that a loan spell away was the best option. Speaking from Spain earlier this week, boss Fabian Hurzeler said he believed Ferguson still had a future there.
“For us it is always important the individual players have an environment where they can develop. We decided the loan was the best option,” he said.
“He is still a player of us, he still brings us quality with him, he is a target player and I am sure when he gets more game time he will one day be back and be an important player for us.”