It’s prime time for Patterson
BENITEZ EXCITED BY £12m SCOTLAND STAR AND COULD GIVE HIM HIS EVERTON DEBUT TONIGHT
RAFA BENITEZ has challenged Nathan Patterson to fulfil his potential at Everton ahead of a possible debut for the £12million man this evening.
Patterson moved from Rangers in a club record sale earlier this week and is in Benitez’s thoughts for the FA Cup thirdround tie against Hull City. Asked whether the 20-year-old could reach the levels of Scotland colleagues Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney in the English game, the Everton boss declined to place additional pressure on his shoulders through a direct comparison.
Benitez was clear, though, about the huge promise he sees in Patterson, who has been recruited to succeed Goodison captain Seamus Coleman at right-back.
‘I think his energy, desire and mentality — he is very competitive — means Nathan has the potential to do well,’ said Benitez.
‘When you have a player who has been playing to a good level here for a while (Coleman), to emulate that you need time.
‘But everything you can see when we were following the boy and in the training sessions shows he has the potential. It’s up to him now.’
Patterson hadn’t played for Rangers since December 18, but declared himself ready to go when putting pen to paper on a five-and-a-half year contract at Goodison. Benitez has also recruited left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko in a £17million deal from Dynamo Kiev, with both eyeing debuts as Everton head to Championship outfit Hull’s MKM Stadium.
‘The first training season for them was to settle down and on Thursday it was much better, more communication with their teammates,’ said Benitez. ‘Both players want to do well and perform.
‘Are they ready? We will see. If we have to play them, they can play. In terms of fitness they have been 15, 20 days without training, so we need to consider all the aspects.
‘Maybe they can start, maybe one, maybe both. We have to consider if they are fit enough for an important game like this one.’
Asked how long it would take for his plan for Patterson and Mykolenko to take shape, Benitez said: ‘Imagine that tomorrow both players make crosses that lead to goals. You will say: “Oh they are ready”. We don’t know. Football is not an exact science.
‘You have to manage and be sure that at least you have players with the desire to do well.
‘These two players come here with this idea. They want to do well here for a while, not just for the next month or games.’
Benitez is under increasing pressure after a run of just one win in 11 games left Everton at 15th in the Premier League standings. Bringing in Patterson is part of an essential bid to improve.
‘Remember one of the press conferences when I was asked if we were ready to do business? I said 200 per cent yes,’ added Benitez. ‘We did it. So we are doing things right. We have brought players in early so they can adapt as soon as possible.
‘But at the same time, the window in January is complicated and the financial fair-play rules are complicated.
‘We are bringing in young players with desire and ambition, then hopefully they can start giving us something. At least they will start by giving us fresh legs. They want to be here and they want to compete, so that is a positive.’
While the FA Cup provides some relief from Everton’s woes, there is a pressing need to post a positive result this evening and rebuild some confidence within the squad.
Benitez admitted, however, that raising the club to where he wants will be a long-term project.
‘At the beginning, everybody was happy with what was going on,’ said Benitez, reflecting on the season so far. ‘Then we had some issues and now we have to deal with them. The situation is that we have to win games and if we win games, we will have more confidence for the next one.
‘If we can do that, it will be easier for us to create this mentality but it’s not a question you can fix now. We are talking about some years to fix these problems and we are trying to fix them. In the meantime, if you lose games everybody can be disappointed.
‘Everybody can make mistakes. I make mistakes. But you try to do your best with the situation you have and the options you have. I am sure, if we have a little bit of luck in the next few games, it will be much better in the future.’
One player who will not be part of those plans is French left-back Lucas Digne as Benitez confirmed he had asked to leave the club.
‘It was very clear,’ said the Spaniard. ‘I had a couple of conversations with him, he told me what he thought. So what do you expect a manager to do when a player is thinking about leaving?’
The Everton boss suggested Digne was more interested in his personal statistics than the needs of the team in their difficult spell.
‘We are paid big money to do our job and if someone is happy or not happy it is up to you to perform in your job,’ continued Benitez.
‘You have to put your interests behind the interests of the club. Maybe the stats and priorities have changed and people think of themselves ahead of other things.’