Were it not for the fact he’s become wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, Nathan Patterson might feel like the guy who found a fiver in the street and lost a tenner out his pocket while bending down to pick it up.
Starved of first-team football as a rising star at Rangers for too long, Patterson grabbed the bull by the horns and made a life-changing £16million move to Everton in January in the belief it would catapult his career to a whole new stratosphere.
Instead, he’s spent these last three months parked on a bench at Goodison and being dragged into a survival fight, without being trusted to do a thing about it by a new manager who is beginning to resemble a rabbit caught in the headlights of onrushing relegation from the Premier League.
Were it not for all the added zeroes on his bank statement, Patterson might have concluded by now this move has been an unmitigated disaster, especially as it also threatens to stall his previously blistering progress as a Scotland international.
Last week, when Steve Clarke named the youngster in his squad for a friendly double-header against Poland and Austria or Wales, the manager admitted Patterson’s lack of game time might have precluded him from the real stuff if, as originally anticipated, Scotland were facing two World Cup play-offs over the course of the next six days.
But the war in Ukraine has kicked those matches down the road. And now Clarke can use this unwanted change in circumstances to at least give his golden boy some much-needed minutes on the pitch – starting tonight against Poland.
The manager said: “He’s happy to be here. Let’s put it that way! It’s a change of scenery for him after a tough time for him at Everton.”
Clarke has never been one for employing hyperbole but even by his standards, this was quite the understatement.
And yet the former Chelsea right-back is old enough and wise enough to put it all into some context where Patterson’s development from child prodigy to Premier League newcomer is concerned.
He went on: “He’s there every day, working every day with Premier League players. It’s about doing his work properly on the training pitch.
“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.
“It was difficult for Nathan as soon as Rafa Benitez lost his job because it was Rafa and the sporting director at that time who signed Nathan. So it’s been a little bit difficult for him.
“But it’s all part of growing up. It’s all part of the experience. He’s down there with a good move at a good club.
“He should, between now and the end of the season, hopefully get some minutes on the pitch and that would be good.
“I’m sure when he gets to the end of his career he’ll have played enough football. At this moment in time it’s a little bit stop-start.
“But listen, any time I have picked him to play for his country he hasn’t let us down, which is the most important part for me. Any time he comes into the camp he trains well, works well and looks happy to be here.
“That’s very important for us as a national team. At some stage over this camp we will have a little chat. I spoke to him over the phone a couple of times, which is a little unusual for me between camps because I tend to leave players on their own.
“But I did have a little chat with Nathan about making sure even if he wasn’t in the first team he got some minutes on the pitch with his under-23 team which he did do.
“It’s about making sure he’s working hard, even though he’s not getting a chance to start. You can’t let your training standards drop because when the chance does come he has to be ready to take that chance.”
Patterson burst onto the scene like a thoroughbred just in time for last summer’s Euros along with former Auchenhowie stablemate Billy Gilmour.
Gilmour’s meteoric rise was also interrupted earlier this season when, having opted to leave Chelsea on loan for game time at Norwich, he too found himself stuck on the sidelines watching a relegation battle unfold from the bench. For these youngsters especially, every day is a school day.
Clarke said: “With Billy it was always the case he would get back into the team at Norwich.
“When Dean Smith came in he liked him as a player. I’ve seen Billy live a couple of times this season and he’s done OK.
“He’s not going to get the big headlines because his team’s not winning every week, it’s always a little negative story around Norwich because they’re struggling at the bottom of the league. But when I’ve actually watched Billy play he’s done well.
“It’s all part of his development. He knew going to Norwich he wasn’t going to a team that would dominate the ball for 70 per cent of a game as it is when he plays for Chelsea.
“He knew it was going to be a different part of his learning curve and that’s what it is. Billy has to take the most from the situation.
“For young guys like Nathan and Billy, it’s part of their development. It’s rare any player’s career is only an upward trend. It’s how you react in the moments of adversity that will determine how long your playing career is going to be.”
