Evan Ferguson will not be fazed by facing Liverpool at the Amex if he gets the chance.
Just as he was comfortable leading the attack against Everton or going in to face Arsenal.
The 18-year-old has been given a superb grounding at the famous St Kevin’s Boys Club in Dublin.
And that involved facing some of the biggest clubs in Europe – including Barcelona.
Ferguson was with St Kevin’s from the age of six until he joined Bohemians for a short period, during which time he made his now famed debut against Chelsea.
Karl Lambe, who coached him at St Kevin’s said: “We played in tournaments in Spain, at West Brom where we had links.
“We played Man United at Carrington, we played Man City at their academy.
“In the one year we played against Barcelona three times and Evan would have played against Gavi, who just played at the World Cup.
“Kevin’s was ahead of its time in getting these opportunities.
“The lads would have been exposed to that level quite early.
“Every Easter we would have a tournament, the Academy Cup, and invite West Brom, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona over.
“He was getting attention then at that age.
“Eight of that age group are playing professionally now.
“We had some great games - Marseille, Real Sociedad.
“With his personality, Evan doesn’t get over-awed.
“Kevin’s create a great environment.
“When we played Barcelona under-13s, it’s not Goodison Park with 40,000 people but there were still 1,000 people in Dublin in a tight little stadium.”
Ferguson has always been big for his age but, crucially, did not depend on that.
Lambe said: “I joined Kevin’s in June 2011 and I was asked to go in with a group of boys who were going to be the under-eights.
“When I went out the first player kicking a ball about on the pitch was Evan Ferguson at six years of age.
“That was when I was introduced to him!
“He’s big and tall but he was so good at football and a great head, no airs and graces.
“You’d actually forget how big he was.
“He has always relied on his outstanding footballing ability.
“Quite often you’ll put the big lad in the middle of the pitch and he’ll score all the goals. But when the others catch up in terms of size he’s in trouble.
“But with Evan it was never like that.
“We never put Evan in just because he was big or never played just to use his height “He played in a multitude of positions.
“It was only halfway through the under-12s season that he settled on being a striker.
“Until then he played left wing, right wing, centre midfield, centre-half, up front.
“He was just so good everywhere he played.
“Because he was so good with the ball, so clever and such a great attitude, the size thing was in the background.
“His dad played professionally at Coventry City and then was very successful here in the League Of Ireland.
“And his grandad played at a good level.
“But his dad and his mam are unbelievable, like the prototype of what you would want for parents whose son or daughter happen to be good at something because they never got involved.
“They were never pushy.
“As time went on there was more attention on Evan and you kind of knew that you had a talent on your hands.
“They never changed and that’s a massive reason why Evan is doing so well.
“He has such a great support network.”
All of which led to that outing against Chelsea at the age of just 14.
Lambe said: “You try not to get carried away because obviously it was Frank Lampard’s first game.
“Chelsea had only done four days’ pre-season.
“At the time I was trying to calm it down because the media explosion in Ireland was probably as big as it was after his two goals for Brighton recently.
“But, looking back now, he did unbelievably well.
“He was involved in the equaliser they scored and he played against Kurt Zouma. There were a few passes into Evan and he held Zouma off, did a body feint.
“I was surprised how well he did but I wasn’t surprised how calm he was.
“I’ve coached 14-year-olds who are doing well but you wouldn’t dream of putting them in against Chelsea.”
Ferguson and his young team-mates, including new Albion signing Jamie Mullins, came through a competitive set-up in Ireland which does not exist in the same way now.
Lambe said: “Competitive football now only comes in at under-12s “Some will say it’s for the better but the flipside is, if done right, you can put a winning mentality in kids from a young age to really strive and do the best they can.
“Evan and his contemporaries had that.
“We would win the All-Irelands, then go to Real Betis and you’re 3-0 down and you’re thinking, ‘Maybe we aren’t as good as we thought’.
“But that was great for the kids and the parents, to keep them level-headed.
“When we came back to Ireland the next six weeks at training would be unbelievable because the kids were like ‘We have to get to that level’.”
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