Speaking on the All Together Now podcast, journalist Greg O’Keeffe has been questioning why Everton decided to sign Nathan Patterson last month if he isn’t going to be playing.
Before Everton decided to sack former manager Rafael Benitez, they handed him a lot of power on the transfer front by selling first-choice left-back Lucas Digne and replacing him with Vitalii Mykolenko – as well as splashing out £12.6 million for 20-year old Patterson, who’d only started two league games for Rangers this season.
Was Patterson a poor signing by Everton?
Yes!
No!
It was assumed that Patterson would be coming in and either taking Seamus Coleman’s place – or at least be there to offer the 33-year old some breaks when games are coming thick and fast – however, he’s yet to play a single minute of football and was left out of a matchday squad even before Frank Lampard arrived.
O’Keeffe is unsure as to why he was signed if the club don’t feel he’s good enough.
He said: “I must admit it’s a bit of a side note, but I think we’ve hinted at it and I’m beginning to more squarely think now, I do question the worth of Nathan Patterson. I’m not saying he’s not a good player, I’m not saying he’s not a good signing, but was he what we needed?
“Because I felt we needed someone who could come in of that Lucas Digne age group, when we signed him ready to take [Leighton] Baines’ shirt, and Patterson isn’t that, what have we done again?
“We waited that long to get someone who can push an ageing Seamus, who clearly needs a blow every few weeks, and we brought in a kid who wasn’t getting in the Rangers team – look, he might be a fantastic player for us, I hope he is – but it clearly is frustrating.”
TIF Thoughts on Nathan Patterson…
While the young right-back has a lot of potential to become a good player in the future, if he can’t impress Lampard enough to get ahead of an ageing Seamus Coleman, alarm bells should be ringing as to why there was a need to sign Patterson in January for a likely inflated fee given Rangers were losing a player midway through the season.
Right-back is one area of the team that very clearly needs upgrading, as for all of Coleman’s efforts and what he’s done for Everton, age is no longer on his side and it’s probably not fair on his body to be playing so many games every week in a very intense league, so he may even be hoping that Patterson can start to show why he was brought in.
In other news: ‘I’d probably throw him in’ – Tony Scott urges Lampard to start 19 y/o Everton gem