Could Rangers make shock move for Nathan Patterson? | OneFootball

With Nathan Patterson in the press today having had a horrible evening against Northern Ireland, there’s starting to be a little touch of talk about him coming back to Rangers on loan.

And Ibrox Noise couldn’t be more in favour of this. In theory anyway.

Patterson has had an absolute nightmare in England – the move to Everton didn’t work out, with the manager who signed him, Rafa Benitez, sacked within a week.

And the boy hasn’t settled at all down there ever since, making just 47 appearances in 3 years – just 3,000 minutes of football total.

Everton of course spent £12M on Patterson in 2021, supposedly rising to £16M with appearances, and clearly there’s a reluctance on their part to shell out the extra 4 on a player that hasn’t worked since he went south.

The problem with a return to Rangers is James Tavernier. The captain has the RB slot completely monopolised, and Patterson isn’t going to want to sit on the bench at Ibrox any more than he does at Goodison.

Indeed, his senior appearances in football number 74 and while at 22 that’s not horrible, the minutes are not amazing – just 4500. That’s 50 full matches since he was 17.

In five years he’d have hoped to achieve more, but while he couldn’t usurp Tavernier, he’s not really impacted at Everton either.

And they’re a bottom five club this season.

Sean Dyche would sooner go with a CB by trade in Ben Godfrey than pick Patterson, who must know his Everton career is done.

Was the PL too hard for him? Maybe. Maybe he just isn’t that good a RB.

But we do think he missed out of vital development which he could have got at Rangers, and the idea of him coming home isn’t unappealing.

But whether it’s viable or feasible is another matter.