Steve Clarke shares text messages sent to Frank Lampard over Everton ace Nathan Patterson
It has been a tough start to life at Everton for Scottish youngster Nathan Patterson but he has the blessed relief of international duty this week.
The 20-year-old is currently with the Scotland senior team for their friendlies this week having seen his move to Merseyside from Rangers not work out how he had hoped.
Scotland manager Steve Clarke has had his say on the development of Patterson and even revealed that he texted Frank Lampard about the 20-year-old when he arrived at Goodison Park.
“He’s there every day, working every day with Premier League players. It’s about doing his work properly on the training pitch,” Clarke said, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“I always tell players, if they do their work properly the first game they play after a little while out is not the big issue. It’s the recovery and playing again afterwards that is the problem. You lose a little bit of core fitness.
“So in terms of Nathan starting one of the two games, it wouldn’t be a big issue for us and it wouldn’t be a big issue for Nathan either.
“He’s just got to be patient. I had a little text conversation with Frank Lampard about Nathan when he took over at Everton and obviously I spoke very well about him.
“But Frank is in a situation where he has to get points on the board quickly as they’re under a lot of pressure at Everton. So I understand the situation.”
Be patient
It’s hard to think that anyone expected this 20-year-old, who wasn’t even first choice at Rangers, to come to the Premier League and be a star from the off.
Maybe Evertonians had hoped to see a little more of the Scot than we have and understandably so given the poor form the club has been in since the turn of the year.
But we can’t start to panic or make judgements too soon because he still has a lot of learning to do.
The odd substitute appearance or even start should be enough to give him the experience needed and he could be a key player in the not too distant future.
Lampard will be aware of his youth and potential and will surely have a plan to unlock every last ounce of it in good time.
In other Everton news, this Goodison Park star may have played his last game for the club after damning news yesterday.
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