As Ferguson turned 16 in October 2020, it was clear the time had come for him to move to England for good, with Liverpool and Brighton emerging as the top two options for the teenager to consider.
“I’ve been to Liverpool a few times,” he told The Athletic. “It’s a good club but you see so many boys at Liverpool disappearing and there’s no chance of getting into the first team. I was thinking, ‘I should just want to play two years at U18 and then go to U23 and go from where to?'”
He opted for Brighton instead, and his decision has so far been questioned. Since arriving in January 2021, he has scored 16 goals in 34 games in Premier League 2 for the team’s reserves and made his first-team debut in August 2021 coming on from the bench against Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup.
Ferguson scored his first professional goal for the Seagulls in the same competition 12 months later, scoring against Forest Green Rovers, and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland during the November FIFA Date break.
It’s since the World Cup break, though, that he’s started to show exactly why there’s so much excitement surrounding him at Amex Stadium, as well as in his homeland.
Coming off the bench on New Year’s Eve for only his second league appearance of the season against Brighton, Ferguson ignored William Saliba before scoring his first top-flight goal to become Brighton’s youngest Premier League goalscorer in history.
The 18-year-old confirmed this with a winning performance against Everton four days later, prompting team-mate Solly March to hail his impact at such a young age as “phenomenal”.
