EVAN FERGUSON has revealed the chance to work with Gian Piero Gasperini was a key motivation in joining Roma.
And he is hoping to repay the club’s faith in him by delivering Champions League football for next season.
The Italian club completed a loan deal for the Ireland striker this morning with Roma paying €3million for his services with an option to buy him for a further €38m.
Bohemians negotiated a 12.5 percent sell-on clause when Ferguson joined Brighton in January 2021, although his schoolboy club St Kevin’s would also be due a slice of that.
Duvan Zapata, Luis Muriel and Ademola Lookman all significantly improved their goal return when working under Gasperini at Atalanta and Ferguson admitted that track record was a factor as he looks to kickstart his career.
The 20-year-old will be hoping to get more game time having only started three league games last season
Ferguson’s loan spell with West Ham was disappointing but he will have high hopes for this move
In an in-house interview, Ferguson said: “Before you join a club, you have to look at who the manager is and how the club is run.
“And for me, at this moment in my career, I think he’d be a good man to play under and work under, to learn from, because obviously his history with strikers is very good and hopefully I can be the same.
“When you have a club like Roma, one of the biggest in Europe, interested, it’s hard to turn down, and especially when you feel like they want you to come here and explain how good it could be for you, your career and the club.
“For me it’s a good opportunity. Obviously it’s a big club and we want to finish as high as we can.
“When I came in we were talking about sort of Champions League targets and getting back up there so I think that’s the expectation for this season.”
The 20-year-old was bowled over by his welcome when he landed in Italy.
He said: “When I landed, you can tell the culture straight away and how big the club is. You can hear the fans and there’s people, interviews, cameras and stuff.
“It’s a big honour to come and play in front of people who really want to see you do well.“
He is looking forward to having the fans behind him at the Olympic Stadium, having previously come on for Brighton in a 4-0 Europa League defeat to Roma in front of 65,000 fans in February last year.
He said: “It was a good experience. I didn’t think nearly two years later I’d be coming here and signing. You’d rather be playing in the stadium with the fans behind you than against, definitely.”
And, although the Premier League is regarded as the best in the world, Ferguson knows he will have his work cut out in Serie A but is relishing linking up with Ukrainian forward Artem Dovbyk.
He said: “It’s definitely not an easy league, and the Italians love defending, so I’m sure it’ll be tough, especially in the heat.
“The main thing I want to do is come here, score goals and prove myself and get back out there.
“It’s a club full of good players including Dovbyk. Hopefully we’ll gel in training and we can have a good partnership and we’ll see what happens, what system the coach wants to play.”
Roma described Ferguson as the first Irish player in their history, although under-21 cap Kevin Zefi – who lined out for Sligo Rovers in a friendly last week – is on their books.
The 20-year-old will wear the no 11 shirt for the Giallorossi who will compete in the Europa League this season having finished fifth in the league last season.
Ferguson is set to become the sixth Irish player to compete in the Italian top flight after Paddy Sloan, Liam Brady, Robbie Keane, Festy Ebosele and James Abankwah.
Roma are next in pre-season action on Saturday when they face Kaiserslautern. They face Lens three days later followed by games in England against Aston Villa and Everton.
They open their league campaign against Bologna on Saturday August 23.
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