Patterson sale right for everyone, even if Everton don't have a right-back

Sometimes, you’ve just got to get rid of the crutch.

Everton’s right-back hunt is nothing new. We can’t just keep banging on about it. We all know it’s ridiculous, and has been going on for the majority of the last decade.

But, Everton did at one point think they’d solved it. They thought they had their long-term successor through the door when, back in January 2022, they signed Nathan Patterson from Rangers for an initial fee of £12M.

Fast forward four-and-a-half years later and Patterson, finally, might be getting his move away.

The Bobble reported on Monday that Everton were in talks with Eintracht Frankfurt, with the Bundesliga club keen on taking Scotland international Patterson to Germany.

Patterson is currently on holiday, having been given the time off following his exploits with Scotland at the World Cup. Should talks between Eintracht and Everton pick up pace, there’s a chance he may not end up returning to Everton at all.

It’s a shame, but it’s for the best. I’m on record as saying Patterson was harshly treated last season. I felt he could and should have played more of a part, because Jake O’Brien wasn’t performing at right-back (and it’s not his position), and because the defence was so weak centrally, David Moyes needed to change it up.

However, even if it did happen, which it didn’t, that was never going to be a long-term fix. Patterson is now into the last year of his contract and he should have been allowed to leave last season, but Everton’s failure to bring in a right-back meant they were too cagey to let him go, even though Moyes didn’t end up using him unless there were no other options.

Now, optically, it’s perhaps not a great look that Everton are willing to sell their only senior right-back. Seamus Coleman has already left, and Patterson’s departure would leave them with no out and out right-back.

But if Patterson isn’t to play, there’s just no point in dragging it out any longer. Get the money, let him have his move and hopefully get more gametime.

We don’t need to go into the ins and outs of why Patterson’s transfer hasn’t worked. Some of it’s on the player, some of it is on the club and the managers over his time here, and plenty of it is down to bad luck. He was the wrong signing or, really, the right type of signing, just at the wrong time. 

Patterson arrived at the tail-end of Rafael Benitez’s doomed stint in charge, and just six months after Everton — at Benitez’s request — pulled the plug on transfers for Tino Livramento and Denzel Dumfries. Yes, that really happened!

The issue was Patterson simply lacked the experience required to step straight in and, then, on top of that, he was unable to stay fit. He has had some rotten luck on the injury front, summed up by Sean Dyche throwing him on for a token sub appearance in a thumping defeat at Chelsea in 2024, only for Patterson to sustain an injury that then saw him miss Scotland’s European Championship campaign.

Everton just need to cut the cord and, in a way, ensure there’s no excuses for them to not go out and get the right-back (or two, really) that they so desperately need. Don’t go waiting on selling Patterson, just go give yourself insurance. Recoup what you can and invest it back into the squad.

The whole situation is frustrating, but in a way this indicates the club are confident they will get the deal done, that they will get the position filled and potentially even get a back-up too.

That should be seen as a positive, though until Everton go and get it done, they cannot take any credit.

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