Ireland boss fires World Cup selection warning to players
Heimir Hallgrímsson has issued a warning to his Ireland players, including Evan Ferguson, that they face the axe if they struggle for minutes at club level next season.
Ferguson managed just over 500 minutes in all competitions between Brighton and a loan spell at West Ham in a season disrupted by ankle injuries.
Yet at international level he scored twice for the Boys in Green - the winner at home to Finland and an equaliser in the Nations League play-off second-leg against Bulgaria.
Hallgrímsson insisted that the 20-year-old didn't let his club woes affect him whenever he came in for an Ireland camp.
'We can see in our sessions his qualities, especially in finishing, second to none. When given a chance, he's been good even though he's not playing on a regular basis,' he said.
However, club form will help dictate Hallgrímsson's decisions going into the World Cup qualifiers later this year.
'We all know that once he starts playing on a regular basis, he will deliver even more for us,' he said of Ferguson.
'For strikers, it's important to have confidence to be playing on a regular basis, to be scoring on a regular basis. That is why Troy (Parrott) was doing really well in the March window.
'He did really good for us because he had the momentum and the record of scoring.'
Hallgrímsson added: 'There will come a point when we cannot select players when they're not playing.'
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