Republic of Ireland defender John Egan believes Evan Ferguson's physicality for a player so young is as impressive as he's encountered in his career to date but also feels it is unnecessary to pigeon-hole the young striker into comparisons with the likes of Harry Kane.
Ferguson made his first start for the Boys in Green against Latvia on Wednesday night at the Aviva Stadium and the 18-year-old marked the occasion with his first senior international goal as Stephen Kenny's side won 3-2.
His form for Brighton had already caught the eye since New Year's Eve when he netted his first Premier League goal against leaders Arsenal and with further goals in the English top flight and FA Cup, he had come into the current international window on a high.
Ferguson, whose attitude around the Irish camp is impressing Egan, has been compared to Tottenham's record goalscorer Kane - more of a late bloomer than the Bettystown native - in some quarters over recent weeks.
But Egan, who has come up against the England captain in the Premier League, said it wasn't necessary to compare his international team-mate to specific players.
"He's his own man, he's his own player. I don't really compare players. Every player's different," the Sheffield United centre-back told RTÉ Sport at the FAI's announcement of its partnership with Circle K, the association's new official fuel and convenience partner.
"Evan is Evan and he plays his own type of football and he's playing it really well, so hopefully he can carry on doing that."
Underpinning the development for the 6ft 2in striker has been size, strength and an ability to hold up play. Having come up against him in training, Egan admitted he hasn't seen many players of that age possessing a similar level of physicality.
"For an 18-year-old, he's built like a man," he said.
"He's very physical as well for his age and I think that's helped him. He's a powerful young player.
"His goal [against Latvia] was well-taken and he's in a very confident part of his career and hopefully that continues."
When Ireland come up against France on Monday in the Euro 2024 qualifier, much attention will be focused on Les Bleus' newly-installed captain Kylian Mbappe.
A hat-trick in an ultimately losing effort in a classic 2022 World Cup final only further underlined his credentials as one of the leading lights in the world game and Egan was an interested viewer from afar last December with the knowledge that the French would be the first competitive opponents for Ireland this year.
"It was obviously one of the best games of football ever for a neutral to watch," he said.
"But we'll start analysing France now in the next few days leading up to the game and that's when we'll start looking at it properly.
"These are the games you want to play in for Ireland."
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