Nathan Patterson: Keep, Loan or Sell?

Nathan Patterson had been going below the radar but those eagle eyes at The Echo. Here's what Joe Thomas says:

Nathan Patterson is one of a handful of players who, even in a small squad, face a summer in which they have work to do to convince the Everton hierarchy to give them a serious role in the upcoming season.

The right-back has been plagued by injury since joining from Rangers in 2022 and had to watch from the sidelines as the likes of Jake O'Brien and Ashley Young shared duties during much of the second half of the campaign.

The longer the club goes without bringing in a new option, the more time Patterson, still only 23, has to convince his superiors he deserves a chance. Unlike last summer, Patterson is fit for pre-season and, like Beto, could be heard receiving praise for his work in the one-v-one drills as he fought off the advances of Isaac Heath.

I must admit personally I quite like watching him. But I'm an unashamed advocate of attacking football and like watching players who go forward and look to deliver the ball with intent. That's why I liked Dixon too… and Nkounkou before him.

But apparently the smart money says they don't do enough defending… and so that's them done. Even though scoring goals is the name of the game and something we seem to have become increasingly incompetent at. (Yes, a personal word of thanks here for the hugely frustrating efforts of one Dominic Calvert-Lewin over the past 9 years... sorry, I wasn't going to mention him.)

He's never scored a goal and he's never provided any reliable delivery from wide areas?

If we can replace him then I would.

The decision to sell Nkounkou was incredibly poor. I also saw something in him that obviously Everton didn't. Hopefully Dixon can return from the rumoured Stockport loan and emerge as a regular starter.

However, I expect O'Brien will always be used as right-back cover ahead of Patterson and that's why Moyes has decided to keep Keane.

I don't think Patterson has a future at the club, a loan at least takes him off the wage bill.

I'm sure Moyes will bring it out of him.

I would imagine they and him have already tried so what do I know.

I am not convinced on him, but Leighton Baines also had a tough start to life Everton, heavily linked to Sunderland, and he went on to be brilliant.

I am not putting him in that category, but you need 10-15 starts to get your confidence. Look at Obrien, Beto etc.

Can’t defend, can’t cross a ball consistently, slow

SELL

His first season he played 22 EPL games.

Then we would have Coleman and Dixon as backup. And obviously O'Brien if necessary with Tarkowski and Branthwaite fit.

Played 242 games for Everton under David Moyes

Anyway We’ve done all this previously.

If we can just get him fit a la DCL we really have a player here.

Personally, for me, I’d look at him wide right, if not more a winger.
Compared to our Leeds loaner Patterson is streets ahead

Awful player

Several managers have given him chances and he consistently proves he is a naive defender who doesn’t learn the basics.

Just not sure we’d get any money for him.

May have to be loan with us paying part of his wages.

Poor scouting.

Let’s see how he gets on in the next few weeks.

What I have seen of him, both for Scotland and Rangers, and fairly limited for us, his attacking flair is better than his defensive element. However, I think Moyes can help him along in that department.

I have seen enough of him to say his defending leaves a lot to be desired.

He has been unlucky with injuries which have definitely halted any progress. I don't see a queue of clubs willing to buy him.

At times last season I would have started him at right mid to see what he could do as I don't see a future for him at a prem club as a fullback. I rate Garner as a better right back.

Feel like he's the right back version of Darron Gibson, in that he'll never play more than 4 games on the spin and never play more than 10 games a season.

I'd like to say keep and hope for the best but I truly believe he'll never make it with us now sadly.

None have us have seen him much, but he doesn’t look as bad as the treatment he’s received. It’s a massive mark against Moyes that he didn’t just play Patterson for the last 5 games or so of the season; it would have done him the world of good. Even if we didn’t want to keep him it would have raised his transfer value.

Mark #14, agreed. If there's anybody who can save his career, it's Professor Moyes -- who not only turned a headless young Coleman into a star but just this year created a very solid young right back of an unused center back named Jake.

Billy #6, strongly disagree on Nkounkou. He couldn't play defense. Four subsequent clubs tried him at left back and passed. He is now a reserve left midfielder at Eintracht Frankfurt, who are trying to offload him. Played less than a thousand minutes in all competitions last season, less than 400 in the Bundesliga. We missed out on nothing with him.

I'd say the Mykolenko's strength is defending. He was almost forever present in the 4th best defence in the league last season.

It might well be a loan because he's performed so badly that it will be hard to get any fee for him at all.

Probably a return to Rangers - or to the Championship - or some mediocre team in a mediocre league overseas.

No need to be sentimental. Move one. Just buy a new, quality RB please (maybe two).

In my opinion Patterson and any player need to start being treated like a business asset of a well run and structured business.

Patterson cost the club circa £16m in transfer fees alone and he still has 2 years left on his contract, just writing that off is the mistake the past leadership would have made.

The current leadership need to do what they can to get a tune out of Patterson by giving him subject to fitness minutes on the pitch at either RB or RW so that he either becomes a profitable asset however unlikely that may seem at present or to increase his potential value in the market to limit the losses.

The club needs to start acting like and running like a business if we are ever to get back to the top and compete for the honours we all crave.

That makes Patterson 3rd choice(arguably second and a half choice because we won't always have the option of O'Brien at RB), use the friendlies to find out if he is up to that. If not move on and get a proper RB reserve. Bless him, but I don't take Seamus as a serious option, he was being shown up last season and before, and it's another year and a very used clock. Maybe emergency RB but no more. Hopefully coaching beckons for him.

We can just do what other Premier League clubs do and buy good players. We've had the worst right flank in the Premier League two seasons in a row now - it's time to buy.

I'm not saying he should be 1st choice at RB or RW but maybe if he's fit enough a run of games gives him a fair crack to see if he adds any value to the team and squad, he's still young and with the right coaching and guidance he offers options even as a back up.

By all means if the club buy a first choice RB to start ahead of Patterson/O'Brien/Coleman then I'm all for that, I just don't think people need to write Patterson off just yet.

Imagine having to play behind who Patterson has had to play behind when he's had the chances for the last 3 seasons and people are wondering why he looks poor.

Get a good RW in front of him and we may see a different player if given the chance.

They aren't.

The people who made those mistakes are gone. New ownership. New management. New club. New stadium. Wealth far beyond anything the club has ever had, and the in-progress assembly of an entirely new management structure unlike anything we've seen before.

What happened before isn't a pattern that needs to be broken. It's history and it's done with. People need to stop thinking it matters. It does not.

That’s the real issue imo