Mark Hateley reckons Lewis Ferguson can be a mainstay in Steve Clarke’s Scotland team for years to come after smashing it in Serie A.
And if anyone should know about how tough it is to make it big in Italy, it’s the former Rangers and England striker who spent three seasons at AC Milan in the 80s before heading to Monaco and Glasgow for the most successful period of his career. Ferguson is catching the eye of the great and the good in Italy, with Hateley’s former team-mate and Milan legend Paolo Maldini – who left the club this week – having spoken to him about the young Scot.
“I am on a group chat with Paolo, and believe me, those sort of people are aware of Lewis Ferguson and how well he is playing,” Hateley said. “They are football people and they are all over everything, so being linked with bigger clubs in Italy is not a surprise to me.”
Hateley, who spent a season with Lewis’ dad Derek at Rangers, has watched in admiration as the 23-year-old notched seven goals from midfield for Bologna this season – the second highest ever scored in a single league campaign by a Scot in Italy, trailing only the 10 scored by Denis Law for Torino in the 60s. Former Hamilton and Aberdeen star Fergie’s form has made him a regular in Clarke’s national squad.
And he is this week preparing for Scotland’s mammoth Euro qualifier against Norway in Oslo on Saturday, where victory would put us eight points clear of Erling Haaland and Co in the quest for a place at the finals in Germany next year. While starts have been hard to come by at international level with most of his six caps coming from the bench, Hateley is convinced it’s only a matter of time before Ferguson is a regular starter.
He said: “Lewis has done brilliant at Bologna. He scored again last week – his seventh of the season from midfield and that’s a great return in Serie A. He’s going to be a mainstay in the national team. Scotland have a good midfield at the moment and he is getting time off the bench but it will eventually happen for him.
“It will be sooner rather than later because the quality of the training he is getting and the way it has improved him will be clear to everybody in the Scotland set-up. I hope they are going over to Italy to see how he trains over there and not just in matches, because it’s the intensity of the training that is making him the player he is becoming.”
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