Genoa Transfer Market: The Proposed Plan for a New Forward Is Not Convincing
Time is running out, and Genoa’s management—concerned about a preseason riddled with setbacks—knows this all too well: they need to provide head coach Daniele De Rossi with at least one striker. One realistic option is the return to Italy of Evan Ferguson, who didn’t exactly set the world on fire at Roma and was rejected by the demanding Gian Piero Gasperini: Brighton, which owns the Irishman’s contract, does not consider him in the least among the players they won’t part with and is weighing numerous options, but not the straight loan deal currently proposed by the Ligurian club.
The Rossoblù’s preseason struggles are plain for all to see. After an opening victory against Leicester, the Grifone suffered a crushing 10-1 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth in England—a result partly attributed to the experimental format of the match—played in four 30-minute halves—and the extensive use of young players from the Primavera squad, but nonetheless a source of great concern. Even the home match at the Ferraris against Deportivo La Coruña, part of the Vincenzo Claudio Spagnolo Memorial Trophy—which returned after a fourteen-year hiatus—failed to provide the hoped-for answers, confirming the team’s shortcomings on offense. The Galicians, galvanized by their return to Spain’s top division, went on to face Mourinho’s Real Madrid in another high-profile friendly.
De Rossi’s comments after the loss to Deportivo had already sounded like a wake-up call: the coach had emphasized how the departures of Malinovskyi, Ekhator, and Ekuban had deprived the squad of key options, making the arrival of at least one attacking reinforcement urgent. The club had unsuccessfully pursued several players, including Dovbyk, Piccoli, Dallinga, and Ure, before focusing more seriously on the Ferguson option.
The Irishman’s time at Roma had been marked by difficulties from the very beginning. Gasperini had never hidden his reservations, going so far as to publicly state: “Evan isn’t convincing me, and I didn’t even like him in the final stretch—not for technical reasons. He hasn’t embraced this spirit, and neither have a few other new signings.” To further complicate his time with the Giallorossi, he also suffered a back injury during the match against Sassuolo on January 10, which forced him to leave the field in the 39th minute of the first half. This setback compounded the physical issues he had already been dealing with, effectively putting negotiations involving him on hold, even as several English clubs had expressed interest in him.
Genoa is particularly interested in Ferguson for his physical and technical attributes: he is a well-built center forward, capable of playing inside the box but also of contributing to the team’s build-up play, and could be deployed alongside Colombo or next to Vitinha. After a troubled season, Genoa could offer him the confidence and consistency he lacked in Rome. However, the negotiations remain an uphill battle: convincing Brighton to accept a straight loan appears complicated, and Genoa will likely have to revise its offer to finalize the deal in a timely manner.
