Former Republic of Ireland international Shane Long says Evan Ferguson has time on his side to turn his career around despite a disastrous loan spell at West Ham.

Many backed the 20-year-old to find form under his former Brighton boss Graham Potter but he has struggled to even get on the pitch since making the switch to the London Stadium at the start of 2025. Asked about what Ferguson should do next, Long said:

“He’s only a baby. I wasn’t playing properly in the Premier League until I was 21 or 22 – Evan’s already shown us he can do it at such a young age. It’s just a case of giving him that confidence and letting him play freely, without the weight of the world on his shoulders. The crazy thing is, he’s still so young. There’s been a lot of pressure and expectation on him ever since he burst onto the scene, really – all of a sudden, all of the headlines were around a mega-money move to Chelsea, and all these teams queuing up for him.

“Watching him when he first came through, he had everything – he had size, speed, he was a good finisher. He was hungry to do well, and he had that youth and naivety to go out and play. But then things weren’t going so well, and he was probably getting in his own head about it. I was excited for Evan [Ferguson] when he went to West Ham, because he was going to a manager he knew well – I thought he’d get the best out of him, but it’s not really turned out that way.”

Ferguson’s West Ham spell in numbers

The Irishman has been used sparingly by Potter. He has made eight appearances in total, all bar one has been as a substitute. In his only start, he was taken off at halftime against Wolves back at the start of April.

Ferguson has recorded 0 goals and 0 assists, but that is not that surprising when you take into account that he has only spent 151 minutes on the pitch. Clearly there is something he isn’t doing in training which is limiting his participation in games.

Signing a new No.9 is a top priority

It is clear that Ferguson won’t be staying with the Irons beyond the end of the season so a replacement will need to be found in the transfer market.

Plenty of strikers have been mentioned as potential targets, including Strasbourg’s Emanuel Emegha, Crystal Palace’s Jean Philippe Mateta, Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Tim Kleindienst.

All of these players would cost a considerable sum of money, though, so Lille’s Jonathan David may ultimately end up being the best option, considering the Canadian is available on a free transfer this summer.

Click here to see West Ham’s first team squad for the 2024/25 season