[Albion] Evan Ferguson **Loaned to West Ham 03/02/2025**

[METALMICKY]

Took me two years when I was a teenager before I could get back to proper sport and that was just at schoolboy fitness level

This. A mate at college when he was 18 took nearly two years to recover.

 

[JBizzle]

He doesn’t get involved in the game enough. Every time I’ve seen him over the last year or so, he seems to barely touch the ball. You cant afford a passenger in your team at this level.

We should have sold him in January when we had the chance. I can’t see him going for much in the summer now.

True, to a degree, but I'm of the belief that it's the team's responsibility to bring your strikers into the game as much as it is for them to impose themselves on it. That said, the fact a 34 year old Danny Welbeck looks fitter than him doesn't bode well. I just don't think he's match fit, and hasn't been for a while.

Ultimately, West Ham are doing us a favour by giving him minutes, so hopefully he can come back and get a full pre-season, ready to compete with Welbeck, Tzimas and Pedro for the main striker berth next season.

Otherwise, I'm sure Chelsea will still bid stupid money for him. They're a) idiots and b) have the team that were here when we signed him initially.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

It’s very odd, you don’t just “lose it” unless you have gone off the rails or have medical/psychological problems do you? He played enough PL games to show that he is a talented footballer and comfortable at this level unlike Aaron who only shone in a couple of first team games.

I think I read that he’d had glandular fever which can take ages to recover from fatigue?

Every time I have seen him play since injury he looks like he has lost energy. He looks to me as though he is not stretching himself which was a big part of his game when he came on the scene.

Is it possible that he still has fatigue a year on from glandular fever? I find it hard to believe that he is just going through the motions for Ireland, the Albion and WHU. If it was just us I could believe that maybe it’s just that he has become a misfit here, but it’s for three different teams and managers.

As I said, it really is an odd one

Mrs B had glandular fever back in the day and it stayed with her on and off for a good couple of years. Whether that is the/a main factor in EF's drop in form, I still think it's a bit early to write him off. There was a great player in there a couple of seasons ago and – like you say – you don't just lose that and never get it back.

Whether it's down to him making more effort, when he is able to, or just getting a bit of a break and a goal to kick-start the loan, something will hopefully click for him soon. Despite people on here saying 'he's never coming back', the Albion squad is only one or two big summer sales away from having an Ferguson-shaped hole to fill next season...

 

[chickens]

Classic case of someone being too good too young, and also being from a country without a massive player base. If he had developed a bit more slowly - league 1 loan, championship loan or two, then into premier league as a reserve etc we would view him very differently.

His problem is that we all see him as an international player who has banged in some Premier League goals and wonder why he isn't scoring for fun for us / West Ham now.

In reality he is a kid / young adult in the best league in the world against the best defenders in the world. Only the very most exceptional can break through in those circumstances, particularly strikers. There's a reason there are so few good ones, it's a bloody hard job. Look at Darwin Nunez - five years older and still finding his way, Chris wood - having his best ever year at 33, Kai Havertz - leading the line for Arsenal but generally regarded as not good enough etc etc.

I have no idea whether he will make it or not in the Premier League, but he needs a few more years before he is written off.

This. Every player will have periods of underperformance/bad form. I don’t get the impression that he’s given up, despite his struggles.

Strikers rarely arrive at 20 as the finished article. He may need to spend some time out at other clubs as he finds his way, but while I’m glad he’s out on loan, I’d now almost rather it was at a championship club where it would be slightly easier to hit a patch of goal scoring form.

Wishing him the best, and hope (barring a miraculous turnaround in form) he accepts going out on loan again next season as a part of his natural development.

 

[SAC]

West Ham really are utter dogshit.
It’s looking like a really bad loan for Evan, so far the only benefitary seems to be us in that someone else is paying his wages and I guess we charged a loan fee.

Possibly not though. If he was worth £25 million (others thought £50-60 million) just before the loan, and goes on being this poor for the rest of the season, he is going to be worth a lot less after the loan finishes.

However, he could have gone on loan in the Championship, or Scotland, and still struggled. We will never know!

 

[BBassic]

My dog can talk. Unless you can categorically prove otherwise, then you'll have to accept it is true.

I think in this particular instance the burden of proof would fall on you.

 

[Han Solo]

I think in this particular instance the burden of proof would fall on you.

Same goes for the people talking about Evan having some disease or another. Feels like they should prove it rather than people proving he wasn't sick.
Given neither him nor any media source has ever mentioned him having glandular fever, its more likely than not that its just bullshit made up on NSC.

 

[jcdenton08]

My dog can talk. Unless you can categorically prove otherwise, then you'll have to accept it is true.

Almost certainly. If it can speak a human language is a different matter.

 

[GT49er]

Same goes for the people talking about Evan having some disease or another. Feels like they should prove it rather than people proving he wasn't sick.
Given neither him nor any media source has ever mentioned him having glandular fever, its more likely than not that its just bullshit made up on NSC.

Rubbish! Nobody on NSC has said that he did have glandular fever. He did have an illness - that was published information and a fact - but the details were never disclosed. A lot of intelligent and rational discussion ensued on NSC, and glandular fever ticked all the boxes in terms of explaining his lethargy and slow recovery. So - did he have glandular fever? We don't know; neither do you. Could it have been something else? What? We don't know. But is it possible that he had glandular fever, and is that a reasonable theory based on observation? Yes, of course it is.

 

[Milano]

It's starting to look like a bad loan, only 9 games to go and he looks nowhere near their starting 11. When he went there Bowen, Antonio and Alcertez (sp?) were all injured, almost as soon as he signed two of them are back and he's instantly behind both. He may as well have stayed here. I think Potter probably had an impact on his decision but it might not have been for the best, as others have said a Championship loan or even USG.

I'm not convinced that Potterball is a good fit for him (he became Shearer's £100m player under RDZ not Potter), he needs crosses and balls played through quickly, he needs variety, a bit like how Fab sets up..........

Also I don't understand why he wouldn't want to learn every day from Welbz or even Bobby, whereas Bowen is nothing like Evan in terms attributes and Antonio isn't kicking a ball again this season.

 

[pigmanovich]

When he went there Bowen, Antonio and Alcertez (sp?) were all injured, almost as soon as he signed two of them are back and he's instantly behind both.

It's Bowen, Antonio, and Fullkrug who were injured - Alvarez is a CDM in any case. Bowen is obviously fit and starting every game, Fullkrug is close to a return, Antonio might not play in a West Ham shirt again.

 

[Hiheidi]

I think Potter probably had an impact on his decision but it might not have been for the best, as others have said a Championship loan or even USG.

USG have 21 year-old Franjo Ivanovich as their striker, who is having such a good season, we were supposedly interested in bringing him here. Not sure they would have needed Evan. But - as you say - there must have been better options if the objective was to get a good run of games to improve fitness and build back confidence. I wonder if he's getting bad advice from his camp?

 

[Springal]

Almost no championship club could afford his wages.

 

[Machiavelli]

My dog can talk. Unless you can categorically prove otherwise, then you'll have to accept it is true.

You'd need to provide the evidence that your dog can talk. Pretty sure that we'd all accept that they make sounds. Whether it can speculate on what constitutes the truth -- which is what you're invoking -- is a different question.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

In order for it to be misinformation, you'd need to have the evidence/information that Evan categorically has not had glandular fever. So either you're wrong on this particular point or, alternatively, you can provide that evidence.

That’s some serious whataboutery!

 

[Doug-ees-evil]

Took me two years when I was a teenager before I could get back to proper sport and that was just at schoolboy fitness level

Same for me at 18-19 years old.
Took 2 years ish and a Tonsillectomy as well.

 

[chaileyjem]

Rubbish! Nobody on NSC has said that he did have glandular fever.

Several NSC users- just do a quick search - have said that on NSC.

 

[US Seagull]

I think in this particular instance the burden of proof would fall on you.

Well done. You got the point they were making.

 

[Me and my Monkey]

You'd need to provide the evidence that your dog can talk. Pretty sure that we'd all accept that they make sounds. Whether it can speculate on what constitutes the truth -- which is what you're invoking -- is a different question.

Yes, I know. In the same way that someone who states that Evan has had glandular fever would have to provide evidence. Pretty sure we'd all accept that he has been off the boil for a long while now. Whether he can speculate....er....no, that's where the parody ends, as I didn't understand that last bit.

This is a silly argument.

 

[portslade seagull]

Just been talking to a Sham season ticket holder mate and he already thinks he is a waste of time and that we can have him back