The 'unusual' injury holding up ex Rangers star's Everton and Scotland return as £12m man steps up fitness battle

Premier League side Everton are taking a cautious approach with former Rangers youngster Nathan Patterson as the defender continues to build up his fitness following an “unusual” long-term injury.

The Scotland international right-back hasn’t played a competitive match for the Toffees since suffering a serious hamstring injury during a 6-0 defeat to Chelsea back in April which forced him to go under the knife and sit out of Euro 2024.

His absence has continued into the new season, but the 22-year-old is nearing the final stages of his rehabilitation and is taking steady steps towards making a long-awaited comeback. Patterson has had two 60-minute run outs for Everton’s Under-21s in the Premier League 2 over the part fortnight and while it’s unlikely he will be included in manager Sean Dyche’s matchday squad for their league clash against Newcastle United this weekend, Dyche has provided an update on his fitness.

His international return has also been delayed after Patterson was left out of Steve Clarke's latest squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Portugal due to the complex nature of his setback requiring careful management by the Goodison Park club’s medical staff.

Dyche explained: “Patto’s was a different kind of injury. It was quite a serious injury on a tendon, which is unusual and needed surgery on a tendon. Therefore it needs more time. Coming back to true fitness and sharpness after six months which is a long time to be out.

"He’s on a games programme. He hadn’t done as much of the support training. Although he can play a bit quicker than Jarrad, he hadn’t done as my sports-science hours. We made a decision on Jarrad (Branthwaite, who returned in last week’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace) and he felt right, Patto knows he’s still searching for true fitness and sharpness. There’s more to it, a different injury and the recovery is treated differently as well.”

The 21-time capped Scotland international has struggled to establish himself as a first-choice regular on Merseyside since making a £12 million transfer from Ibrox in January 2022. He has started just 23 top-flight matches across two-and-a-half seasons due to a combination of injury problems and falling out of favour.

Dyche added: “It’s about him getting fit and his form right to go and play. The first thing is to get him to that fitness level and having such a long spell out, there’s a push and pull scenario; making sure he gets that true Premier League fitness but being a little bit careful with the nature of his injury.

“When he’s there, we start looking at him pushing forward and make it his own when he’s going to play and he’s going to grow into the Premier League with Everton. That’s certainly what he came here for. He’s got some good players and very experienced players there. It’s not all click your fingers and it works. There is a bit of work to be done but the first thing is to get him fit because he’s had a tough run at it with this injury and it’s not easy.”