Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Oisin Doherty

Can Evan Ferguson declare for England? Brighton star's Irish heritage explained

With another two goals at the weekend, the entire Republic of Ireland football family is ready to hand Evan Ferguson the keys to the kingdom.

The youngster has seven goals to his name since the turn of the year, the 18-year-old is attracting a lot of attention ahead of Ireland's international games against Latvia and France.

Worryingly, the Brighton striker is catching the eyes of our friends across the Irish sea as well. In the past 24 hours, both Gary Lineker and Danny Murphy have heaped praise upon the young man.

READ MORE: 'Superstar' Evan Ferguson is 'phenomenal' - Danny Murphy

And in January, The Times ran an article that pleaded with the FA to take a look at the young starlet.

What makes this more worrying is the fact that Ferguson is eligible to play for England via his mother's family heritage.

Naturally, the sound of British media hyping up an Irish prospect with English links is enough to send shivers down the spine of any Irish fan who lived through the Declan Rice and Jack Grealish debacles.

But fret not, because Ferguson, who was born in Bettystown in County Meath, has shown zero interest to date of switching allegiances to England.

The rules on switching international allegiances are murky to say the least. Rice for example featured 3 times for Ireland in friendlies before deciding that he wanted to play for the land of his birth.

By the end of this international window, Ferguson could have as many as four International caps including one competitive appearance should he feature against France.

A competitive cap should be enough to tie Ferguson down and deter the English FA from making any enquiries.

Of course, much of this is conjecture and Ferguson has shown no interest in representing anyone other than Ireland.

Coming through St Kevin's before moving onto Bohemians, Ferguson had his grounding in Ireland before moving to England and becoming a Premier League star with Brighton.

Having already represented Ireland from u15 level all the way up to senior, it seems unlikely that Ferguson will go the way of Grealish and Rice.

READ MORE:

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alert

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.