Tottenham turned down Evan Ferguson as a 15-year-old due to scouts’ concerns about his physical potential, according to Football Insider.
When the Brighton striker was in his mid-teens and creating a reputation for himself in his native Ireland, Spurs were firmly in the battle to woo him away from Irish club Bohemians.
According to insiders, talent scouts from the London giants were pleased by Ferguson‘s potential and believed he might make it in the Premier League.
However, talks over a trade fell through because scouts believed the striker, then 15, had almost reached his peak physical size and questioned whether the rest of his game could compensate.
In the end, Ferguson grew to 6ft 2in and bulked out significantly over the next few years.
Brighton eventually won the contest to sign Ferguson from Bohemians in January 2021, when he was 16 years old and wanted by a number of Premier League clubs, including Liverpool.
At 16, he made his debut for the Seagulls in an EFL Cup match, then a month later, a month after his 17th birthday, he made his Premier League debut.
The young phenom, who will turn 19 next month, is now firmly established as one of Europe’s outstanding attacking talents, and he demonstrated this with a hat-trick for Brighton in their 3-1 Premier League win against Newcastle United last weekend.
Ferguson has four league goals this season and 14 in 33 senior appearances for the south coast club.
Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert and Brighton fan, is convinced of the youngster’s worth.
“If his development continues, then in a year’s time the club won’t stand in his way of a move,” Maguire told Football Insider.
“He has all the characteristics of a young Shearer, and Alan Shearer, at the age of 19, would be worth well over £100 million in today’s market.”
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