Steven Gerrard tonight issued a surprising response over the news of Everton’s £5M bid for Nathan Patterson by suggesting it ‘was so far away it was unreal’.
This implies, strongly, that he values Patterson in the £15M range.
Let’s put this on the table, however – Nathan Patterson is 19 years old and this manager will not play him. He has left him to rot on the bench for the past two seasons.
And yet, intriguingly, he values him more highly than James Tavernier’s market value which is somewhere between £5M-£15M, but gives the kid zero chance of minutes for the time being, bar the occasional cup outing in early rounds.
Pre-season Gerrard confirmed Patterson would be playing a big role this campaign, but we’re yet to see that.
Tavernier remains as glued to RB as ever, and Patterson remains as glued to the bench.
The reaction from many to this story has been ‘sell Tav’. In fact, we barely saw anyone who wanted to keep the captain over the Auchenhowie graduate.
Patterson is proven in the UEL, for his country, and in the league. He is as good as anyone in his position in the SPL. And yet he appears no closer to getting a slot.
Despite the fact his manager appears to be rating him in the £15M range.
Curious.
I think we will see a lot more of him. My hope is that when the games start coming thick and fast he starts to get some minutes in the legs. Also, I’d hope that we can start killing teams earlier on which would allow the license to bring him on for a 2nd half here and there. I know the lad is determined to make the grade and break into the team this season. Going forward we need a core of homegrown players to have a full capable squad in Europe.
5 Million is peanuts for Paterson, so Gerrard is correct here.
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