New Everton boss Frank Lampard has promised Nathan Patterson he will get his chance at the club despite being yet to make an appearance after a moneyspinning move from Rangers.
The Ibrox club raked in a club-record fee for the 20-year-old Scotland international when Everton splashed out £12m rising to £16m for the talented right-back [Sky Sports].
But since making the move down south Nathan Patterson is yet to make a first-team appearance for Everton and has been consigned to spells on the bench.
The entire thing has been complicated by a change in management for the Premier League strugglers, with Frank Lampard replacing the outgoing Rafa Benitez after a disastrous campaign.
One of the division’s highest spenders, the position Everton currently find themselves in is not becoming of the talent in their squad but as things stand Seamus Coleman is ahead of Nathan Patterson in the pecking order.
But for Frank Lampard that doesn’t mean that the defender isn’t in his thinking.
“Nathan is obviously a young player we have a lot of hopes for in the longer term. There’s competition for a reason,” said Lampard [Liverpool Echo].
“Seamus has been brilliant since I came in. Nathan will get his chance.”
Everton captain Seamus Coleman has been an important part of what Frank Lampard is trying to do at the club, as the 33-year-old Irishman starting in all four of the club’s matches under Lampard.
Nathan Patterson facing stiff competition at Everton
Interestingly, former Celtic loanee Jonjoe Kenny – who had a woeful stint at Parkhead in the second half of last season – also appears to be preferred to Nathan Patterson at Everton.
After wild celebrations in the 3-0 win over Leeds United, Kenny’s passion for Everton caught the support’s attention and Frank Lampard has also backed the Liverpool-born full-back.
“I don’t want to make him just a local lad with a big heart, he’s a very good player. I saw that from the moment we’ve been here, I knew that from before,” said Lampard [Daily Record]
“Some of my staff have worked with him previously, so the references I had before coming here were that he’s a great lad and a very good player.”
All of this combined – the transfer fee, the change of management, the preferring of other players – makes the Everton move for Nathan Patterson all the more interesting.
Sure, at 20 there is still plenty of time for the ex-Rangers kid to develop but from the outside looking in he’s moved from being the back-up at Ibrox to being the back-up at Goodison Park.
What’s more, Everton and Frank Lampard need to steady the ship as being in 16th place they’re very much in relegation dogfight.
That means that whilst he remains out of the side, Nathan Patterson could be playing for an English Championship side next season being powerless to prevent it happening.
Meanwhile, a BBC journalist has criticised calls from the tabloid media to see a Rangers midfielder retrospectively banned.