A hugely talented centre-forward who has lost his way at his current club but relaunches his career at Everton. Could Duncan Ferguson in 1994/95 become Evan Ferguson in 2024/25?

Over 30 years on from when the giant Scot made his initial loan move to the Blues from Rangers before becoming the darling of the Gwladys Street by opening his account against Liverpool and completing a club record £4million permanent switch, many Evertonians are craving another raid on the Amex Stadium in the hope they can prise their former tartan talisman’s namesake from Brighton & Hove Albion.

Everton’s current number nine Dominic Calvert-Lewin looked distraught on the Sussex coast on Saturday as he was forced out of his side’s 1-0 win barely 11 minutes into the contest after falling awkwardly in an aerial challenge with Joel Veltman.

READ MORE: Double admission could change Everton transfer plans as David Moyes faces dilemma

READ MORE: 'Who that is, God knows' - Everton have a major headache for the final week of the transfer window

With manager David Moyes admitting the injuries to both Calvert-Lewin and Orel Mangala “don’t look great” plus the striker’s current contract expiring this summer, Blues will be hoping that the sorry sight of the Sheffield-born players walking off disconsolately isn’t the last time we see him in an Everton shirt.

Along with Dwight McNeil, who Moyes said was set for knee surgery in pre-match press conference, the pair continue to be assessed with an update not expected for another couple of days. But there is little room for sentiment in the Premier League, though, and while the first back-to-back wins of the season have given Moyes’ men a platform for survival, measures still need to be taken to ensure Everton do not end 2024/25 with the unacceptable nightmare scenario of departing Goodison Park and moving into their new 52,888-capacity stadium, which will enable them to play in front of their biggest ever regular crowds, as a Championship club.

The mood from within the Blues’ management team on Saturday night was that while beating the Seagulls was a great result, they have still got a lot to do to get safe.

Indeed, with Beto, who has netted just four goals in 44 Premier League appearances for Everton since his £25.8million transfer from Udinese in August 2023, and a player who has been repeatedly linked with a move back to Italy this month, now the only fit striker at the club due to injuries for the aforementioned Calvert-Lewin, Youssef Chermiti and on-loan Armando Broja, who the Blues want to send back to Chelsea to free up a much-needed domestic loan space, bringing in a new front man has become a daunting but imperative task in the final week of the winter window.

Even before the Calvert-Lewin injury bombshell, Moyes admitted after his first game back, a 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa: “We’re desperately needing to add some quality in certain areas, mainly to create and craft goals, and it looks like to finish as well, we’re needing to get those levels up.”

During his first spell as Blues boss, the Scot was great at working with hungry young players, who for whatever reason had been overlooked by the richest clubs in the land but were polished up into proven Premier League performers on his watch.

Three decades on from when Duncan Ferguson would escape the Ibrox goldfish bowl for a fresh start on Merseyside that proved to be the love of his footballing life – a time that even predates Moyes’ affiliation to the club – Evan Ferguson looks like the ideal 21st century version of the type of player that Blues fans love.

The precociously talented Republic of Ireland might not fit into the way that Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton play, but at a club who have idolised a big centre-forward since the days of Dixie Dean, with a golden thread of Tommy Lawton, Dave Hickson, Fred Pickering, Bob Latchford and Graeme Sharp passing through the doors before the original Ferguson arrived, it would appear, on face value at least, to be a match made in footballing heaven.

Following Saturday’s defeat, Hurzeler was asked about Evan Ferguson and said: “When I see him, he is in good spirits but of course, injuries don’t help your mood and shape. Not only physically, but also mentally, it’s a tough time for him but I am sure he will get through it.”

It has now been widely reported that the 20-year-old from Drogheda is available for loan before the transfer window closes and speaking on talkSPORT Shebahn Aherne said he was expected to join Moyes’ men.

The claim left presenter Jeff Stelling stunned with the former Sky Sports Soccer Saturday host proclaiming: “I’m shocked that you said Evan Ferguson is expected to go to Everton. I’d be staggered – staggered – by that.

“If he has the option of going to West Ham, with his old boss Graham Potter, who got the best out of him, or a club who with the best will in the world have seen centre-forwards struggle since the days of Duncan Ferguson, I’d be really surprised. But who knows?”

With Everton desperately searching for a new spearhead to their attack, Evan Ferguson would represent the dream target for thousands of Evertonians but the ‘d word’ appears quite literal right now and any links should be treated with caution.

As things stand, the Blues obviously don’t have a domestic loan space available so they wouldn’t be able to sign Evan Ferguson on loan, unless Broja goes back to Chelsea, and one of the stipulations of Stamford Bridge chiefs giving a green light on that could be insisting that the Blues take another of their players on loan instead.

In terms of a potential permanent Everton move for Ferguson, the ECHO understands that despite the increased spending power going forward thanks to the takeover by The Friedkin Group, the club don’t have the finances to prepare a package of that magnitude in this window due to PSR constraints, making a deal of any type highly unlikely at this stage.