It was only when Al-Nassr walked away from a deal for Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface and bought Jhon Durán from Aston Villa that the Bundesliga champions were forced to stand aside, paving the way for West Ham to ramp up talks with Brighton and bring Ferguson to east London for the rest of the season.
West Ham had the solution to their injury crisis in attack, Ferguson had the chance for a fresh start and Brighton had not lost complete control of a potentially lucrative asset.
The former Brighton striker Warren Aspinall has argued Ferguson was set back by “the De Zerbi way of coming short for everything”.
It is a measure of Evan Ferguson’s potential that plenty of clubs were willing to look past his recent struggles once it became clear that Brighton were listening to offers for the striker during the winter transfer window.
He gave Ferguson his debut at Brighton and knows all too well how reputations can be torn to shreds after his torrid time at Chelsea.
