1. Is West Ham the right move for Evan Ferguson?
CLUBS LINKED with Ferguson during the latest transfer window included Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal.
Some might perceive his eventual destination, West Ham, as somewhat of an anti-climax.
But perhaps the loan to the Hammers is the perfect transfer from the Irishman’s perspective.
What the 20-year-old needs most is extensive game time.
If he cannot be guaranteed that at Brighton, it is unlikely to be much easier at a club higher up in the table.
By contrast, at West Ham, who are 15th in the table, he will likely be afforded plenty of opportunities.
He will work with a man who knows the Meath native better than most — Graham Potter, who handed a teenage Ferguson his debut with the Seagulls.
At Brighton this season, Ferguson was invariably third in the pecking order behind Danny Welbeck (six goals in 18 appearances) and €48 million summer signing Georginio Rutter (four goals from 23 appearances).
As well as below-par form, injury problems contributed to Ferguson only managing one goal from 14 Premier League appearances, with only two of those starts.
It would be fair to say that the competition is not as intense in a West Ham team that have struggled to score goals this season.
In their last three matches, the Hammers have started different players up front — Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus, none of whom are natural forwards.
Even the man they have mainly been relying on as their striker in recent seasons –Michail Antonio — started his Premier League career as a winger.
A broken leg suffered in a car crash put paid to Antonio’s season in early December.
It is telling that the Jamaica international has nonetheless started more games than any other Hammers player in the central striking role (11).
He is followed by Bowen (6), Niclas Füllkrug (5), Paqueta (2), Danny Ings (2) and Kudus (1).
Like Antonio, German international Füllkrug is also out with a long-term injury, having been signed for £27 million (€32 million) in the summer.
Füllkrug may have over 100 career goals and 22 Germany caps but some Hammers fans were critical of the club for forking out so much money on a player who will turn 32 later this month and whose entire career before this season was spent in the Bundesliga.
Signing Ferguson seems like they are now taking the opposite approach.
The youngster has already made 60 Premier League appearances, scoring 13 goals, and is at the beginning of what the club hope will be a long and prolific career at the top level.
2. Can Mason Melia go straight into the Spurs first-team squad?
In the past, highly rated League of Ireland stars have often found life in England tough.
But Mason Melia feels special, as emphasised by the €2 million fee being paid by Tottenham, a record for a League of Ireland player.
He is due to join the North Londoners in January 2026, a little over three months after his 18th birthday, and has signed a contract until 2031.
Already, the Wicklow native has made 41 Premier Division appearances and he is expected to increase that tally considerably in the coming campaign.
Whether he goes straight into the Spurs squad or gets loaned out remains to be seen, although he is effectively on loan this season at St Pat’s.
Perhaps an apt comparison is with Sam Curtis, the former Pat’s player whose record Melia eclipsed as the club’s youngest-ever player.
Curtis was similarly sought after by some of the top clubs in Europe a couple of years back.
He signed for Sheffield United in January 2024 but has made just one league appearance for the Blades since then.
Last August, Curtis signed with League One side Peterborough United on a season-long loan deal. Yet he was recalled in January and has just moved to Scottish Premiership strugglers St Johnstone.
Curtis is an impressive talent, but his journey so far emphasises that life in England is seldom straightforward for even the most promising League of Ireland performers.
Sometimes, the issue can be as simple as whether the manager takes a liking to you or not.
Cork City graduate Jake O’Brien moved to Everton from Lyon over the summer in a €20 million deal.
The defender looked to be on his way out of the club last month, having been used sparingly by boss Sean Dyche.
But since Dyche’s recent dismissal and David Moyes’ arrival, O’Brien’s fortunes have improved dramatically.
The 23-year-old Ireland international has already started three Premier League games since Moyes’ appointment — three more than he managed under Dyche.
In this regard, Ange Postecoglou would appear to be ideal for Melia, as he is not of a similarly conservative mindset to the ex-Toffees boss.
Of course, whether the Australian is still in charge next year is uncertain, given that he has come under significant pressure following a poor run of results this season.
But Melia would probably benefit from Postecoglou sticking around.
The former Celtic manager has not been afraid to throw young players in the deep end.
19-year-old Lucas Bergvall has already played 17 times in the Premier League this season. 18-year-old Archie Gray has played the same number of top-flight games for Spurs. 17-year-old Mikey Moore has not been quite as regular a league presence but has played 15 matches in all competitions.
In Spurs’ recent 3-0 Europa League win over Elfsborg, all three goals were scored by academy graduates, two of whom were teenagers.
Of course, these players are getting the opportunities partly because of a severe injury crisis within the squad.
But the fact they are being given the chance is also the reflection of a club and manager that embraces youth more so than most elite English clubs, all of which bodes well for Melia’s prospects.
3. Will John Egan revive his career at Hull?
Not for the first time in his career, John Egan is facing a significant challenge.
Since a season-ending injury for Sheffield United suffered in a Premier League match in September 2023, he has started just two senior games — once in the FA Cup and once in the Championship.
Egan had to undergo calf surgery after this setback and departed the Blades in the summer following a largely successful four-year spell.
The son of a Kerry GAA legend joined Championship promotion hopefuls Burnley in September but six of his seven league appearances were from the bench.
Having been one of the first names on the teamsheet for Ireland for several years, the defender seemingly has work to do if he is even to make it back into Heimir Hallgrímsson’s squad in which centre-back is comfortably the position where the most depth exists.
A Premier League return is unlikely anytime soon — instead, Hull will be hoping Egan can help them stay in the Championship as they sit two points above the relegation zone.
Yet the 32-year-old has been in a similar position before.
Having suffered a broken leg as a youngster at Sunderland, who were a Premier League club at the time, he dropped down to League One and successfully revived his career at Gillingham, before slowly working his way back to the top flight.
Whether the injuries have taken too much of a toll for Egan to get back to the player he was is uncertain — as emphasised by the fact that he has signed a relatively short-term 18-month contract with his new club.
But Hull at least should provide him with more of an opportunity to get game time and potentially link up with fellow Cork-born centre-back Sean McLoughlin.
4. How will Gavin Bazunu cope with Belgian football?
After three recent appearances for Southampton U21s, Gavin Bazunu’s transfer on loan to Standard Liege was one of the more interesting moves in the January transfer window.
The main link appears to be with former Bohemians player Fergal Harkin.
The Donegal native is the Belgian club’s Director of Football and worked at Man City from 2009 to 2022, initially as a scout before becoming the English club’s Football Partnerships and Pathways Manager.
He would have worked with Bazunu during this period, with the youngster signing from Shamrock Rovers in 2019, and Harkin helping oversee loan moves to Rochdale and Portsmouth before his eventual permanent move away from City to Southampton in 2022.
The Dubliner had been the unquestioned number one at the Saints, making 73 appearances before an unfortunate achilles injury that left him out of action for almost a year.
The Premier League club consequently signed Aaron Ramsdale from Arsenal, so it seems unlikely that Bazunu would have won his place back instantaneously had he opted to stay at St Mary’s.
A move to Liege, who are seventh in the Belgian top flight, might be the best decision for all parties.
Bazunu has already been relegated once with Southampton and it seems highly likely that the Saints will go down again this season regardless of who they play in goal.
The Dubliner having two experiences of featuring prominently in a relegation season won’t do his confidence any good so Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson and all those looking out for his best interests would probably agree that spending time away from his parent club can prove beneficial.
A couple of years ago, Bazunu was linked with some of the biggest clubs in Europe and as he prepares to turn 23 later this month, there is no sense that such potential has diminished.
Provided Bazunu builds his fitness and sharpness in this new environment, he can recover and re-estalish himself as a Premier League and international regular.
Carl’s berg don’t do the worst performances in the Champions League group stages, but if they did…
Scored only two goals if I’m not mistaken.
Viktoria Plzen also had zero points this campaign but they did score a few goals.
Devastated ……
So there is a God.
Simply the Worst…