Nathan Patterson happy for Everton 'change of scenery' as Steve Clarke talks up defender in text to Frank Lampard

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