NEXT BIG THING
SPOTLIGHT ON EFL’S EMERGING STARS
NAME: NATHAN FERGUSON
CLUB: WEST BROM
AGE: 18
POSITION: Full-back
SCOUTING REPORT:
Despite limited evidence, Baggies manager Slaven Bilic, right, saw enough of Nathan Ferguson in pre-season to pitch him straight into the mix from the start of this campaign.
And nothing he has seen since from the defender has led him to doubt that gut feeling he initially had about the Birmingham-born youngster.
Since handing him a full debut in the opener against Nottingham Forest – a decision vindicated with a man-of-the-match display – Bilic has played Ferguson in seven of the club’s eight Championship matches.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect is that after starting on the right – blocking the route for £1.5million summer buy Darnell Furlong – he moved to left-back for his last two games. That type of versatility suggests a future at centre-half perhaps.
Ferguson was spotted while playing for Phoenix United – the same youth club Saido Berahino came through – and has been with Albion since he was eight. His strength, speed and composure bodes well and he has already done excellent containment jobs on high-profile wingers this season, in addition to handling some hostile crowds as a result.
He has played for England Under-18s, doing well in a four-team event in China last year, and is in the current England Under-20 squad.
Such progress does not go unnoticed and Crystal Palace are understood to have had him watched as they weigh up whether to tempt him to plug the gap left by Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s move to Manchester United.
Ferguson is out of contract in the summer but Bilic will undoubtedly stress that the trajectories of the two clubs could cross next summer.
The manager will probably have to provide Premier League football in blue and white stripes with the Baggies if he is to hold on to his hot prospect.