Nathan Patterson: Rangers top 10 transfer fees received as defender nears £16m record Everton move

Nathan Patterson's fee could rise to £16m at Everton (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The 20-year-old is on Merseyside for a medical ahead of a proposed £12m move to Everton which could rise to beyond £16m with add-ons and a sell-on clasue inserted into the deal.

That would make Patterson the club’s record transfer fee received – and eclipse the previous deals Rangers have one – particularly with clubs south of the border.

We looked back at the previous highs of the cash recouped at Ibrox – and Patterson’s path is not unique as Everton feature more than once – and so does a fellow right-back record-breaker.

Alan Hutton

£9m to Tottenham Hotspur, January 2008

Rangers selling a right-back for multi-millions to the English Premeir League isn’t new ground being broken by Patterson – Alan Hutton did the same 14 years ago. The flying right-back joined Harry Redknapp at Spurs for a then club record deal having burst into form with his lung-bursting dashes up the right flank. At 23, Hutton was a little older than Patterson is when he moved and hooked up with Harry Redknapp but after 52 appearances for the London club he moved to Aston Villa, re-uniting with Alex McLeish who gave him his Rangers debut. He retired in 2020 after being released the year prior.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Giovanni van Bronkhorst was Rangers' record sale before Hutton's move to London (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

£8.5m to Arsenal, June 2001

Rangers’ current manager is the club’s second, soon to be third, highest transfer fee received for his summer switch to arsenal in 2001. Alex McLeish was in charge when van Bronckhorst was eventually transferred south – a move that had been anticipated since he moved to Ibrox from Feyenoord and showed his ability under Dick Advocaat. Arsenal was his destination despite interest from many of Europe’s top clubs and GvB was used in midfield alongside Patrick Vieira and on the left side by Arsene Wenger – but after spending a large part of his final season at Rangers injured, he was struck own again at Highbury. He won another league title and FA Cup though and moved on to Barcelona en route to amassing 106 caps in a glittering career that ended with the 2010 World Cup final. At £8.5m Rangers almost oubled their outlay on the midfielder.

Jean-Alain Boumsong

£8m to Newcastle United, December 2004

The French defender was flipped fairly quickly having arrived on a free transfer from Auxerre but his six month spell ended in disappointment but was far from a flop. A classy central defender he immediately stood out as a star turn in Alex McLeish’s Rangers team but that would be his best run. A move to Newcastle just six months after signing proved lucrative for Rangers who made £8m profit but Boumsong disappointed on Tyneside under Graeme Souness and was sold on to Juventus for a £5m loss two years later with the Bianocneri in Serie B. International appearances were a little more successful and he later moved to Lyon and Panathinaikos in Greece.

Carlos Cuellar

£7.8m to Aston Villa, August 2008

Aston Villa triggered a release-fee clause in the reliable Spanish defender’s contract at Rangers, after he had helped Walter Smith’s side to the UEFA Cup Final of 2008 – but Rangers still netted a profit of £5m on the fee.

Signed from Osasuna after several attempts an long talks, Cuellar ended up setting a Rangers appearance record with 65 games in season 2007-08 and won the player of the year award in Scotland but like Boumsong – his Ibrox career was short-lived, albeit a fairly successful one.

Barry Ferguson

£7.5m to Blackburn Rovers, August 2003

The captain’s ambition to test himself in England was eventually realised - but at Blackburn despite a number of big-name clubs previously linked. Nevertheless Rangers commanded a healthy fee for Ferguson on the back of his finest goalscoring season in 2002-03 – 16 goals.

However the midfielder failed to settle in Lancashire, suffered a horrific broken kneecap and eventually Mark Hughes sanctioned a move back to Rangers with some of his fee instalments still outstanding, which were wiped out in his £4.5m return deal 18-months later.

Tore Andre Flo

Barry Ferguson had two spells at Rangers, either side of a spell in Blackburn.

£6.75m to Sunderland, August 2002

Better known for being Rangers’ record signing fee paid – that £12m fee was a weight around Flo for his spell at Ibrox – and particularly magnified by the bargain buy across the city leading the line for Celtic at the same time – Henrik Larsson.

However Flo’s stats and Rangers play, when taken in isolation was far from disappointing – if not quite living up to the billing of his massive eye-watering outlay. After 38 goals in 72 appearances he moved to Sunderland with a very respectable goals to game ratio under Dick Advocaat an Alex McLeish – including a backheel goal on his 5-1 winning Old Firm debut, and Rangers still recouped half of what they spent on the Norwegian two years later.

Nikica Jelavic

£6.5m to Everton, January 2012

Signed by Walter Smith after a lengthy stand-off between Rapid Vienna and Rangers, a £4m move eventually kick-started an impressive Rangers career for the Croatian forward, who eventually made the club a profit with a £6.5m move the Goodison Park – but events at Ibrox a fortnight later quickly overtook thedsappointment of losing the forward who scored 36 in 50 as Rangers were placed in administration the following month.

Jelavic’s cash was presumably vital at the time an a move south had seemed inevitable after Rangers’ exit from the Champions League qualifiers against Malmo the August before. Went on to decent EPL success with Everton and then West Ham.

Trevor Steven

£5.5m to Marseille, August 1991

Marseille paid Rangers a then British record transfer fee for the winger who had moved north from – you guessed it – Everton, two years earlier. However the England international only stayed at the Stade Velodrome for a year and despite forming a good playing relationship with Didier Deschamps and Jean-Pierre Papin for the French champions, financial woes forced his return to Rangers – where he played a vital part in the club’s nine-in-a-row run and even played against his former club in the inaugural Champions League.

Duncan Ferguson

£4.4m to Everton, January 1995

Mike Walker signed the British transfer record holder initially on a loan from Rangers, alongside Ian Durrant. However, while Durrant only stayed the agreed month at Goodison Park as Everton adressed a slump in form, Ferguson stayed longer and eventually agreed a deal where Rangers recouped their British record fee – and a little more for Ferguson who went on to achieve cult status over two spells on Merseyside before embarking on a coaching career at Finch Farm.

Claudio Reyna

£4m to Sunderland, December 2001

Reyna was brought to Ibrox by Dick Advocaat in 1999 from Wolfsburg and the American struck up a firm friendship with current Rangers boss van Bronckhorst – an scored some crucial goals for Rangers – including against Parma on one of the club’s most memorable European nights.

He moved to Sunderland for £4m with Rangers making a small profit on the American who went on to Manchester City, New York City and is now a key administrator at NYCFC in the Major League Soccer. Son Giovanni plays for Borussia Dortmund.

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