Graeme Murty drools over Everton defender Nathan Patterson
Graeme Murty has showered heaps of praise on Everton right-back Nathan Patterson.
The former Rangers manager (and coach) groomed a lot of young talents including Patterson during his stay at the Ibrox club.
Murty has suggested that Patterson has got “fabulous attributes” but he was struggling to dislodge James Tavernier from the starting role.
“Look at Nathan Patterson. He was a full international at 19,” said Murty, as quoted by The Times.
“That speaks to the back-story of Nathan coming through the Rangers system from the age of eight, and being taught by a series of coaches all the way through the system who had a really good influence. It also speaks of Nathan, too, learning from them all, and really taking his opportunity.
“In this business, you have to go and displace the person that is ahead of you. If you look at Nathan Patterson, he is a really good player, very talented, with fabulous attributes and is Scotland’s right back. But he had to try to displace James Tavernier every week.”
Struggling
Patterson joined the Toffees during the January transfer window from Rangers, signed by previous manager Rafa Benitez.
The youngster probably have made the move way too early, but it was something that was beyond his control.
Rangers sold him for a club-record transfer fee and his departure has not weakened the squad as well. It was a win-win situation for them.
Patterson was not getting regular games at Rangers, and he still got decent exposure that earned him a call-up to the national team.
His career could have taken a new height had Benitez been in charge. We can only speculate as the Spaniard probably signed him with an intention to use him regularly.
However, Frank Lampard has a different view. He made only 45 minutes of senior appearances under him.
Lampard sees him as a player for the future and has urged him to be patient. At the moment, he has dropped down the pecking order behind Seamus Coleman and Jonjoe Kenny.
In other Everton news, a reliable journalist has rubbished claims that the club were set to lose £300million as a result of severing ties with Alisher Usmanov.
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