With tonight’s breaking news of Nathan Patterson’s impending transfer to the PL and Everton, reaction from fans has been understandably divided over the implications of the deal.
Some fans are pragmatic and wish the lad luck, while appreciating the fee offered, others feel it is the wrong thing and he should stay.
Where does Ibrox Noise sit?
Somewhere in the middle, really.
The reality is we haven’t, in this modern era, sold a single player for market value since Nikica Jelavic, and have been weak and feeble in the transfer area.
This finally sees us sell an Auchenhowie product for a gigantic profit, something Celtic have been doing with many of their youth products for years. We finally produce quality, and sell it for the right numbers. That’s a vindication, at last, of the Academy.
Sentimentally many fans are disappointed – they’re seeing one of our own losing out to Tavernier, and will exit instead of succeeding him. There’s a bit of melancholy at seeing such a promising talent go south.
Unlike Billy Gilmour though, the last one to do so with this kind of spotlight, we will get exactly what we should for Patterson. Around £16M is simply impossible to refuse given Rangers’ deficit, and this puts us into a much, much stronger financial position for the January window.
In terms of the player, sure, as Rangers fans we’d have loved to see him take over and become our first choice RB, but we’ve still got years out of Tavernier and his performances this season have been excellent – obviously we hope he maintains that this calendar year.
So honestly there’s no real loser here. Rangers sell a prize asset for the right amount of value, debt is 90% reduced, and we still have a fine option at RB. Everton gain a top player, and he develops in the PL and becomes the player the SPL probably wouldn’t have let him become.
So we have to say good luck to him, we’ll watch and support him with interest, and we thank him for helping the club out financially. He doesn’t WANT to leave, but he DOES want to play.
And no one can blame him for that.