Everton star sends honest message to Sean Dyche as ace Rangers sold in £16m deal shares revelation

Rangers academy product Nathan Patterson has admitted he's going through the roughest patch of his career amid a limited amount of Everton minutes.

The right-back joined the Toffees in 2022 in a deal worth £16m, signing a five-and-a-half-year deal. Patterson made his Rangers debut in 2020 but found it difficult to move captain James Tavernier out of the Ibrox side, despite showing his potential.

He's not kicked a ball in anger under Sean Dyche in the Premier League since January, and his performances for Scotland this week have come under scrutiny. Euro 2024 is on the horizon and Scotland head coach Steve Clarke knows he's not playing lots of minutes for Everton.

Now speaking to Viaplay, the former Rangers star has admitted to the difficulty of this stage of his time as a pro. Asked if this was the most difficult period of his career, he said: "Yes, you could say so. Obviously I'm not playing as much as I would like to play but sometimes that's just football and I'm not the type of person that will just give up.

"I'll keep training hard and working hard and try and make sure I give myself the best opportunity to get game time. The last Euros was my first camp so it was a new experience for me. I was just really looking forward to take everything in and I've done that.

"I feel as if I've matured as a player and as a person as well so this time I'm looking forward to it again. Hopefully I can play more games and hopefully we can make it through the group and make it a better experience than last time."