A Roman renaissance for Evan Ferguson could help Ireland reach the World Cup

Evan Ferguson has made such a good early impression that Roma are expected to make him their first-choice striker. Photograph: Fabio Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images

The pink pages of Gazzetta dello Sport had a story on Tuesday that seemed to enhance the Republic of Ireland’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in North America.

AC Milan are in the market for a centre forward and Artem Dovbyk was their second choice if a deal could not be struck with Manchester United for Rasmus Hojlund.

Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson are competing to lead the line for Roma in Serie A this season, with the Irishman set to start on Saturday against Bologna at the Stadio Olimpico.

Gazzetta’s Luca Bianchin reported that the club will sell the big Ukrainian after just one season, for the right price, which would compel Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini to trust his instincts on Ferguson.

“In these first weeks of training, Gasperini has alternated Dovbyk with Evan Ferguson, the Irish striker who arrived from Brighton, whom Gasperini has really taken a liking to (even in training),” Bianchin wrote.

Obsessive coverage around Ferguson could, from an Irish viewpoint, be seen as disrespectful to Troy Parrott, who has 10 goals in seven appearances for AZ Alkmaar this season, including seven in Europe, a strike rate that has got English clubs circling in advance of the transfer window closing on September 1st, five days before Ireland launch their World Cup campaign against Hungary in Dublin.

In any other period since Robbie Keane’s heyday in the late noughties, Parrott’s hot streak would make him a certain starter against a Magyars team led by Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai.

Nothing more could have been asked of the former Tottenham Hotspur reserve. Parrott has rebuilt his career in the Netherlands, goal by goal, over the past two years after loan moves to the unforgiving English lower divisions, where Millwall, Ipswich Town, MK Dons and Preston North End each had a turn at deflating his confidence and playing him out of position.

Ferguson chose the cut-throat environment of Italian football over a dip into the English second tier after knee and ankle surgeries disrupted his rise at Brighton before last season’s failed loan to West Ham United.

“It was a tough year,” the 20-year-old recently told Gazzetta. “For the first six months I had to deal with an ankle injury, then I decided to go to West Ham. It didn’t go the way I wanted, but now I feel very good physically.”

The next quote Ferguson provided reads like it came from leading questions: “How many goals would I like to score? I don’t usually think about an exact number of goals. I definitely want to score in every game, even though I know it’s not easy. 20 goals? Let’s hope so ...”.

Dovbyk only managed 12 in Serie A last season having shot the lights out for Girona with 24 goals in La Liga before his €30 million move to the Giallorossi.

By Thursday, Ferguson’s head would have been spinning if he was scrolling through Gazzetta while sipping his morning espresso; Dovbyk was being rerouted to Everton “or even Napoli” to make way for Wolves and Portugal forward Fabio Silva. There are also rumours of Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho joining on loan, following the signing of Leon Bailey.

Evan Ferguson after scoring for Roma in a preseason friendly against Cannes. Photograph: Matteo Ciambelli/Inpho

“Evan Ferguson, the designated starter for Saturday’s match against Bologna, would be the perfect foil for [Silva],” read the Italian sports broadsheet. “Not only for the Irishman, but also for Argentinian Matias Soulé, for whom offers from Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart were rejected yesterday – much to Gasperini’s delight and to further advance the Giallorossi’s Champions League dream. That dream now relies more than ever on Sancho and his flashy moves.”

Off Broadway, Parrott and Adam Idah set a 20-goal standard last season. Parrott cannot stop scoring but Idah was unceremoniously substituted by Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers at half-time in the Champions League play-off against Kairat on Wednesday.

“I wanted a little bit more activity in and around the box,” said Rodgers. “Adam’s an honest boy. But in games like these here, I can’t afford to wait.”

Ferguson appears to be Heimir Hallgrímsson’s frontman, so long as he features against Bologna and Pisa before all three Irish attackers land in camp on Monday week.

But Ferguson is not the only reason why Parrott or Idah could be warming the bench against Hungary and Armenia in Yerevan next month. Hallgrímsson’s system revolves around the lateral movement of a creative number 10 and last weekend Finn Azaz picked up where he left off for Middlesbrough in the Championship with a sublime assist in a 3-0 defeat of Millwall.

Azaz looks certain to start next month after his performances against Bulgaria in the Nations League B/C relegation play-off last March. The 2-1 win in Plovdiv showed clear improvement under the Icelandic coach, with Azaz then teeing up Ferguson for an important goal in the second-leg at home.

The rest of the line-up largely picks itself, although with Robbie Brady injured again, left back will create debate among Hallgrímsson and his assistant coaches John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy.

Callum O’Dowda, who has joined Keane at Ferencvaros, appears to be ahead of Josh Honohan and James McClean in the pecking order.

Lenny Joseph of Ferencvaros celebrates with Callum O'Dowda after scoring in the Champions League qualifier against FC Noah. Photograph: Laszlo Szirtesi/Getty Images

O’Dowda is not a natural defender, however, with Keane using him ahead of a back three and two holding midfielders, which is similar to how Shamrock Rovers play Honohan and Wrexham utilise the evergreen McClean.

Ryan Manning does a similar job for Southampton and Hallgrímsson appears to trust the Galway native, capping him in all four internationals this year, albeit in a more advanced role usually reserved for Sammie Szmodics.

Both Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene have made encouraging returns from injury, but will have to shake off some rust.

Festy Ebosele’s recent cameos for Ireland, particularly against Finland in Helsinki last October, should keep Kasey McAteer out of the team if Ogbene fails to hit the ground running.

Ipswich have signed McAteer from Leicester City to compete with Ogbene at club and country.

Right back is still Matt Doherty. The veteran did enough while constantly back-pedalling in Wolves’s 4-0 loss to Manchester City to hold off Jake O’Brien, who was uncertain in possession for Everton during Monday’s 1-0 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road.

The central five require little debate. If Ireland are to qualify for North America 2026, the four club captains – Burnley skipper Josh Cullen and Bristol City’s Jason Knight sitting in front of Nathan Collins (Brentford) and Dara O’Shea (Ipswich) – must become the rocks on which Hungary, Armenia and Portugal perish.

Caoimhín Kelleher is the Ireland goalkeeper but Brentford’s dodgy start under Keith Andrews and Gavin Bazunu’s impressive return for Southampton, after his Achilles’ tear last year, could revive an old debate.

Josh Keeley is primed to move ahead of Mark Travers and Max O’Leary as third choice having impressed at Luton Town since his summer move from Tottenham.

If Ireland possessed the depth in midfield that they have in attack and defence, the chance of reaching a play-off at the expense of Hungary or Portugal would increase significantly, but the cupboard is not completely bare behind Cullen and Knight. If Will Smallbone reappears for Southampton he can contribute away to Portugal in October while Jayson Molumby, Jack Taylor, Joe Hodge and the promising Bosun Lawal are all on Hallgrímsson’s radar.

For now, the Ireland team is still made up of Premier League strugglers and high-end Championship professionals with contributions from the Italian, Dutch, Turkish and Hungarian leagues.

Ireland possible XI versus Hungary: Kelleher (Brentford); Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Collins (Brentford), O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Manning (Southampton); Cullen (Burnley), Knight (Bristol City); Ogbene (Ipswich Town), Azaz (Middlesbrough), Szmodics (Ipswich Town); Ferguson (AS Roma).

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