Outgoing Rangers youth coach Peter Lovenkrands has compared upcoming Ibrox youngster Nathan Patterson with the Danes’ former Gers teammate Alan Hutton.
Alan Hutton came through the youth ranks at Rangers before going on to earn the Gers a club record £9m transfer fee when he moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 2008.
Hutton would go on to have a successful career in English football, turning out most recently and successfully for Aston Villa and earning 50 caps for Scotland.
Lovenkrands – who left Rangers during an academy reshuffle this summer in order to pursue his own coaching ambitions – can see distinct similarities in the two players.
“Nathan has so much talent,” said Lovenkrands [Daily Record].
“With his shape and build he has a fantastic stature too. He’s tall, athletic, he has an engine that will take him up and down the pitch.
“Obviously he has still to learn position wise and how he uses his body and physicality but his attitude again is spot on.
“I have said before that I look at him like Alan Hutton – he has the same style of play, the same build, the same athletic ability to get up and down at speed.
“I’m still good friends with Alan and I always say to him ‘he’s just like you’.
“I’m very excited about Nathan. He could be very, very good.”
It’s high praise indeed for 18-year-old Patterson who at present looks set to be the direct back-up to James Tavernier in the Ibrox side’s squad this season.
Having broken through into the Rangers side in January, starting the 2-0 win over Stranraer in the Scottish Cup last season, there are high hopes he can have a big impact on the side in the future.
Alan Hutton was an inspired performer at Rangers, playing 122 games between 2002 and 2008 and the club will be hoping Patterson can have an even bigger impact on the Ibrox first-team than the former Gers right-back.
Lovenkrands played alongside Alan Hutton at Rangers during six years at the club between 2000 and 2006 where he won seven trophies, including three league titles.
