‘He’ll Bee our Ronaldo’
Ferguson, 18, netted his first goal for the senior side with Matheus Pereira adding a late second moments after QPR’S Yoann Barbet was sent off.
Bilic gave Rice his debut at West Ham in May 2017 and sees similarities between the pair.
The Baggies boss said: “Nathan is talented, he reminds me of Declan Rice. He is only 18 on paper but his head and mind is like he’s 25 or 27.
“But he’s not a kid, he’s a kid in a positive way in that he is not afraid to play left-back. That’s the good thing about being young because he is thinking positively.
“I have no doubt that it’s our job, and his family’s, to keep him humble and then there is no doubt that he has an extremely bright future and great career in front of him.
“Funnily enough, he started as a right-back – he’s more of a right-back than a left-back – but then we lost both our full- backs for five weeks at the same time. Someone had to step in and he stepped in and did the job.”
After a disappointing first half, where
Barnsley v Brentford Sky Sports, Today, 1.30pm
BRENTFORD boss Thomas Frank believes striker Ollie Watkins is the club’s very own Cristiano Ronaldo.
Versatile front man Watkins has been tasked with filling the void left by the departure of star striker Neal Maupay.
Marksman Maupay, 23, bagged 28 goals all told for the Bees last term – and landed himself a £20million move to Premier League Brighton.
But Watkins (below) has hit the ground running with four goals in eight Championship games mes ahead of today’s trip to Barnsley.
“He’s like a Ronaldo-type,” said Frank. “He can play easily as a No.9, to the side, or as a 10.
“It’s a big comparison to make, but I’ve started going down that route now, so I’ll carry on! He’s so versatile he will score goals wherever he plays just like Ronaldo has done in his career.
“And because of the position positio he plays he’s also alsb best getting out of the the players around him.”
Watkins has scored s twice as many m goals as the r rest of the Bees squad combined this season, and Frank joked: “I’m great at making top goal scorers! If I may say so Ollie is naturally better than Neal at running in behind.
“He’s scored a good striker’s goal already, which shows he’s learning.
“We have already seen some really promising signs from Ollie, but we know there’s more to come. We know how much quality he has and he’ll score a lot of goals for us I’m sure.
“He’s had a great start and we can only praise him for that. It’ll give him confidence to build on.”