Nathan Patterson is ignoring the increasing glare of the spotlight to concentrate on progressing with club and country.
The 19-year-old Rangers right-back has become an integral part of Steven Gerrard’s squad since making his Light Blues debut against Stranraer at Ibrox in January 2020, and has broken into the Scotland set-up under Steve Clarke, making his debut in a friendly against Luxembourg in June before featuring against Croatia in the delayed 2020 European Championship.
Everton were reported to have made an unsuccessful £8million bid for the former Gers youth player in the summer while Manchester United have been linked this week but Patterson, while admitting the past year or so has “just been amazing”, is focusing only on improvement on the pitch.
He said: “Yes, that was obviously nice to see that teams are interested but I am only interested in playing football.
“That’s the stuff that comes with it and I am not really aware of anything that happens, I just go on the pitch and do my thing and let the outside talk.
“You need to keep your feet grounded and just focus on your football and that’s what I have been doing.
“In football you have media everywhere now, and you have everyone’s opinions.
“Sometimes you just need to block that out and focus on yourself, surround yourself with the right people and I feel as if I have done that. I have a good group of friends, good team-mates and family also who keep pushing me on to do well.
“I have been working really hard with all the coaches that have been helping me along the way and any time I get the opportunity I need to make sure I am ready to prove myself.
“I feel as if I have done that but I need to keep pushing on and hopefully get more opportunities.”
Patterson made his first Scotland start against Moldova in the 2022 World Cup qualifier last month and hopes to get the nod against Israel at Hampden Park on Saturday.
After six fixtures and ahead of the clashes against Willi Ruttensteiner’s side and the Faroe Islands, the Scots are seven points behind runaway section leaders Denmark, one ahead of Israel and four ahead of Austria.
“They are massive games,” said Patterson.
“We have a big one at home against Israel and then we need to travel away to Faroe Islands and we hope we can get the results we need.
“The games are coming thick and fast and we are looking to get the results we need to get to try to progress into the play-offs.
“We certainly have the team. We have a lot of talent in the team so we are certainly capable of doing it and just hope we can go on the pitch and get the results we need.
“The boys know it is a sell-out, they know how big a game it is and hopefully we can give a good performance for the fans.
“We have played them six times in the last three years.
“They are a top side, they have dangerous players, so we need to make sure we nullify their dangers and we can get the three points.”
