{"id":293654,"date":"2026-02-12T05:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293654\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T05:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:42:17","slug":"gasperinis-negative-comments-about-evan-ferguson-have-gone-too-far-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293654\/","title":{"rendered":"Gasperini\u2019s negative comments about Evan Ferguson have gone too far \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somebody needs to start sticking up for Evan Ferguson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brighton and Hove Albion, his actual club, have been muted in the past six months as Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini <\/a>never missed a chance to criticise, to such an extent that he is ridiculing the 21-year old centre-forward. That is the key point: Ferguson is 21.<\/p>\n

The latest comments by Gasperini have unnecessarily branded Ferguson as injury-prone. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he changes direction, he risks a small sprain,\u201d said the Italian coach who revealed this week that the player has had four ankle injuries since signing for Roma on a season-long loan.<\/p>\n

Gasperini did not want Ferguson. His stream of negative quotes and the reporting in Italy backs this up. He did want Donyell Malen, a 27-year-old Dutch international who is more winger than striker, and the French teenager Robinho Vaz.<\/p>\n

The pair of them were signed in the January transfer window and Gasperini wasted no time demoting Ferguson to an unused sub.<\/p>\n

It seems like every other week the beat reporters in Rome tee Gasperini up to wash his hands clean of Ferguson and, without fail, the 68-year-old has damaged the reputation of one of the best young footballers Ireland has ever produced. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s another key point: Gasperini is 68. He should know better. <\/p>\n

I remember Harry Kane at 21. He recovered from injury to make a giant leap in the 2014\/15 season, scoring 21 goals for Tottenham in the Premier League. And I remember Troy Parrott at 21, being forced on another loan to the English Championship where he had to deal with a knee injury at Preston North End. <\/p>\n

It is from age 21 to 24 that the top strikers come into their own.<\/p>\n

Gasperini, clearly, is not concerned by the repercussions of his continually negative commentary on Ferguson. He cannot be allowed to get away with the reputational damage he is causing. Brighton or Roma should intervene, quietly. Have a word because a young man\u2019s career is being stained by the Roma manager\u2019s \u201cmedical opinion\u201d. Moves to future clubs could be influenced by his public utterances. <\/p>\n

\"Evan FergusonEvan\u00a0Ferguson of AS Roma lies down injured. Photograph: Giuseppe Maffia\/NurPhoto via Getty <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve watched Ferguson this season. Tuned in for every game he started. Studied his movement in detail. He has improved as a centre-forward. His first touch is quality. He has had to learn on the job by adjusting to the unforgiving nature of Serie A, where the lone man up front is compelled to drop deep and connect the play. <\/p>\n

Maybe Ferguson is injury prone. Maybe his rare ability and size exposed him to the men\u2019s game at too young an age. His debut at 14 for Bohs against Chelsea is already a part of Irish football folklore. He burst on the scene in the Premier League. But I also remember Liverpool midfielder Fabinho cutting through the back of him when he was only 18. <\/p>\n

Young players, especially a big lad like Ferguson, need time to grow into their bodies. I hope Gasperini is proved flat wrong and Evan\u2019s ankles hold up over time.<\/p>\n

This might sound obvious, but it is worth saying, in any industry it is bad practice for Gasperini to be telling the Italian media that Ferguson is \u201cdepressed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s statistics are not as bad as they have been conveyed. Overall, he has five goals from 22 appearances for Roma. Break it down and there is a different story: two goals from 10 starts in Serie A (and a third off the bench). In the Europa League he scored twice from three starts. Add another three goals for Ireland in four World Cup qualifiers before he was hacked down by a Parma defender in October.<\/p>\n

Ideally, this season at Roma goes down as a footnote in an outstanding career that is helped by Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson finding a way to play Ferguson and Parrott together.<\/p>\n

Maybe not in time for the Czech playoff in Prague next month. But at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

If Chiedozie Ogbene continues his recovery from the hamstring tear he sustained in Budapest, he remains a vital cog in the Ireland wheel. Ogbene is the out-ball and Finn Azaz is the creator in chief. That does not leave room for Ferguson or Parrott to play off each other. But they can. Both can operate as a nine or a 10 for Ireland.<\/p>\n

Parrott will start against the Czechs. He\u2019s up to 27 goals for club and country this season. In Dutch football, he has grown into a player that can take the ball in any position and make good use of it.<\/p>\n

\"AZAZ Alkmaar forward Troy Parrott. Photograph: Stefan Koops\/EYE4images\/NurPhoto via Getty <\/p>\n

Troy is 24 now. Like Ferguson, finishing is his speciality, but his technical ability allows him to score and create.<\/p>\n

The other worry, for Irish fans ahead of Prague, is S\u00e9amus Coleman. Seeing S\u00e9amus sitting in the stand last week alongside the suspended Everton manager David Moyes does not bode well. I\u2019m not sure Budapest would have happened if Hallgr\u00edmsson had not recalled Coleman in October. He\u2019s in a race against time. As is Robbie Brady, although Ryan Manning deserves to start down the left.<\/p>\n

At least S\u00e9amus cannot get injured in the stand. I might leave him there. Ogbene and Ferguson too. Keep them on ice.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure about Sammie Szmodics\u2019 future in the Ireland squad after the vague reason Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna gave<\/a> for loaning him to Derby County. It was not for football reasons, McKenna said, and it was to protect the culture of the dressingroom. <\/p>\n

The Irish players will know what happened. Dara O\u2019Shea is the Ipswich captain. Kasey McAteer and Jack Taylor are also at the club.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how that situation develops.<\/p>\n

But back to Gasperini: Evan Ferguson is at the start of his career while you near the end, so maybe take a deep breath, show a little sense, before you do any further damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Somebody needs to start sticking up for Evan Ferguson. Brighton and Hove Albion, his actual club, have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7523,28467,4700,61,60,1842,112,44452],"class_list":{"0":"post-293654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-evan-ferguson","9":"tag-harry-kane","10":"tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-troy-parrott"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}