Evan Ferguson says Shane Duffy is helping him to become a better striker.
The 17-year-old is a rising star of Irish football and a man in a hurry as he makes impressive strides at Brighton.
The Meath man - who played against Chelsea as a 14-year-old with Bohs - made his second appearance for the Seagulls in Saturday’s FA Cup win at West Brom.
He assisted one of the goals in that 2-1 come-from-behind victory and also found the roof of the net with a chance of his own.
“I thought I’d scored the winner,” he said. “I couldn’t see the ball because it was behind the goalkeeper.
“I was already running over to the fans to celebrate and I was devastated when it landed on the roof of the net!
Ferguson has eight goals in 15 appearances this season for the Seagulls Under-23 side.
And that form saw him catapulted onto the first-team bench for recent Premier League games against Chelsea, Brentford and Wolves.
Brighton boss Graham Potter knows he has a talent on his hands considering how quickly Ferguson has progressed through the ranks in his year at the club.
“You can see his qualities and his goals, they’re not by accident, that’s for sure. He knows where to be in the box and around the defenders,” said Potter.
Republic of Ireland Ireland star Duffy is one of the Brighton players who has helped look after Ferguson as he breaks through.
And Ferguson revealed how the big defender has been giving him useful nuggets of information to improve his game.
“There’s a few guys who look out for me in the group,” said Ferguson in an interview with the Brighton website.
“Obviously there’s the Irish connection with Shane and he looks after you.
“Even in training, if you have good movement or you could have better movement they’ll tell you.
“They are used to it every week in the Premier League.
“With strikers like Neal Maupay, Danny Welbeck and Leandro Trossard, you get to see different types of movement and learn from it.
“I feel good when I am training with the boys, it’s helping build my confidence and my game up.”
And Ferguson admits he is still pinching himself a year on from making the move to England.
Not least getting to train with Danny Welbeck every day.
“I grew up a Manchester United fan, so I used to watch Danny every week and now he’s a teammate. It’s weird playing and training with him every day,” he added.
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