Back for the start of the summer series, Adam Price runs the rule over our first signing, Jamie Paterson.
Initially, I was well set to complete this piece on Wednesday evening. Plymouth Argyle’s transfer window had sprung into life, much sooner than many had anticipated, with Jamie Paterson and Caleb Watts joining on the same May afternoon. I was happily scrawling my thoughts about the former of those arrivals when, from nowhere, head coach Miron Muslic suddenly departed for Schalke. Sorry, that’s “2. Bundesliga side Schalke” to you and me.
Cue problems. The head coach they had both signed for – and spoken so glowingly of, receiving similar praise in return – had vanished. Musings on where they’d fit into Muslic’s side became pointless as quickly as they were first pondered. The players may feel bereft, but they’re here now, so let’s take a look at them, starting with 33-year-old Paterson.
Paterson, as many quickly discovered, has a wealth of experience across the EFL, most notably with the likes of Bristol City, Swansea City and Walsall. Most recently, following his first foray abroad with MLS side Charlotte FC, Paterson signed for Coventry City. He’s leaving the Sky Blues as a free agent this summer, paving the way for a move to Home Park.
He’s a player who likes to wear the number 12 shirt wherever he goes, so Paterson may be in for a rude awakening when being kitted up for the new campaign. Once that hurdle is cleared though, I hold out hope that he could be the sort of player to entertain fans, and be just what Argyle need to hit the ground running back in League One.
Key attacking components
For most of this piece, I’m going to be focusing on Paterson’s stats from his 2023-24 Championship campaign with Swansea. He played sparingly during his time in the States with Charlotte, with most of his appearances coming for their reserve side. And whilst he did feature eight times for Coventry last term, all eight outings came from the bench, totalling just 86 minutes played. Hardly the juicy sample size we need to draw any conclusions.
His final season at Swansea told a very different story. Of their 46 league games, Paterson featured in 44 and started 40. That gives us a total of 3,240 minutes to work from, and allows us to tell a far more relevant story with the numbers involved. And those numbers, to my eye, look highly exciting.
The most obvious place to start is his goal contributions. Across the league campaign, he scored a total of seven goals and added a further six assists. That total of 13 goal contributions is perfectly acceptable for a midfielder – Mustapha Bundu (16) was the only player with more in the league for Argyle last term. Yes, Paterson played plenty of minutes, allowing him to build up that figure, but his numbers are still decent when looking at them per 90 minutes. That’s particularly true for assists, with his figure of 0.17 again only beaten by Bundu.
Paterson regularly looks a threat, and is often trying to make things happen. Take crosses as an example. At Argyle last season, nobody came close to completing as many crosses as Paterson’s 174 in 2023/24, nor did anyone match Paterson’s crosses completed figure of 45. In terms of crosses per 90, Tymoteusz Puchacz was the only player to beat Paterson in both metrics.
That eagerness to have an impact unsurprisingly shows in his creativity statistics. Paterson’s average of 1.89 key passes per 90 beats anyone on Argyle’s books last term…
| Player | Key passes per 90 |
| Jamie Paterson* | 1.89 |
| Ibrahim Cissoko | 1.47 |
| Mustapha Bundu | 1.36 |
| Tymoteusz Puchacz | 1.27 |
| Michael Baidoo | 1.18 |
| Adam Randell | 1.14 |
…and it’s exactly the same story for big chances created.
| Player | Big chances created per 90 |
| Jamie Paterson* | 0.36 |
| Mustapha Bundu | 0.35 |
| Andre Gray | 0.16 |
| Adam Randell | 0.16 |
| Joe Edwards | 0.16 |
| Tymoteusz Puchacz | 0.16 |
I accept that I’m comparing Paterson’s 2023/24 numbers to players in a relegated Argyle team. Given the frequent horror shows last season, it isn’t surprising to learn that so many in Argyle’s ranks struggled going forward. However, Swansea didn’t exactly have a terrific season overall before Paterson left, and he was still able to post strong numbers in some key attacking metrics. I’ve no doubt he’d have been a key man for Argyle last season had he signed a year earlier.
If Argyle can unlock the 2023/24 version of Paterson in League One, they’ll have quite the player on their hands.
A player to excite
Attacking players are always the ones to get us, as supporters, on the edge of our seats. Sure, I appreciate great defenders as much as anyone – had he not picked up an injury, the arrival of Maksym Talovierov could have proved transformational for Argyle’s season. But it’s the attackers, those scoring and creating goals, bringing the entertainment. I’ve no doubt Paterson will be a player to excite fans on that basis alone.
However, there’s even more in Paterson’s numbers that leads me to believe fans will enjoy watching him play. At his best, he could score the goals to push Argyle towards promotion, and he has a general style of play that should meet the Green Army’s approval.
For one, his dribbling stats show he’s not afraid to take players on, and he often beats them. Nobody at Argyle attempted more dribbles last season than Paterson’s 93, and nobody completed more than Paterson’s 40. Sure, that’s once again partly because of Paterson’s supreme number of minutes played (Ibrahim Cissoko is unsurprisingly ahead in both metrics per 90), but the numbers hold up well nonetheless.
Paterson also has no problem having an effort on goal. Have you ever felt frustrated when Argyle work the ball into a good position but fail to even get a shot away? Not a problem with Paterson around. He had a total of 67 shots in his final Swansea season, with no Argyle player able to match that last term. Even per 90, Paterson’s figure of 1.86 was only beaten by Cissoko, Ryan Hardie and Morgan Whittaker. Not bad for a midfielder.
| Player | Shots per 90 |
| Morgan Whittaker | 2.78 |
| Ibrahim Cissoko | 2.54 |
| Ryan Hardie | 2.49 |
| Jamie Paterson* | 1.86 |
| Rami Al Hajj | 1.62 |
| Caleb Roberts | 1.41 |
One interesting note is that Paterson’s shot accuracy isn’t terrific. His figure of 25% in 2023/24 would actually be below Argyle’s average (33%) in their relegation season. That suggests to me that many of his shots come from long range. I’m not generally a fan of the Devonport End roaring “shoot” whenever a player gets the ball 35 yards from goal, but Paterson will need no convincing regardless.
Following his departure from St Johnstone this summer, a few terminally-online Argyle fans were calling for the return of Graham Carey, perhaps a pipe dream given he’s now 36. In Paterson though, Argyle have brought in a player with many of the same traits. I’m not for a second suggesting he’ll have the same impact at Home Park as the Irishman, but he likes to play the game in a similar way. I’ve no doubt Paterson will excite if he gets going.
Versatile, but one specialist area
As many supporters discovered upon Paterson’s arrival, versatility is considered one of his strengths. Indeed, the departed Muslic mentioned in Paterson’s unveiling article that “he can play in a variety of positions along the front line, and will complement the way we want to play next season.” That’ll remain the case, regardless of who replaces Muslic.
On one hand, that must be seen as a positive. After a series of appointments that could be generously described as “scattered,” Argyle’s hierarchy will now be grappling with another decision on the style of play. Will they opt to maintain Muslic’s direct style, or pivot back to more conventionally attractive attacking football?
For Paterson, any outcome ought to be fine. Whilst Watts and Jack MacKenzie appear to be classic Muslic-coded players (we’ll have more on them in the coming days), any manager ought to be able to find a place for Paterson in their side. He’s played at least one game in eight different positions across the course of his career, ranging from deep in midfield right up to the centre forward position, and he could easily be accommodated in any system.
All that being said, I do believe he’s at his best when he plays as a number 10. It’s where he’s played most regularly throughout his career, and it’s where he’s most able to have an impact on any given game. He’s made 496 professional appearances in all, about half of which have come behind the striker. The rest have been scattered elsewhere; he’s decent on the left, not quite as good on the right, but electric in the centre. In the successful Swansea season we’ve been covering, the majority of his appearances were as an attacking midfielder.
In that sense, I see Paterson’s versatility in the same light as Bali Mumba’s versatility. Mumba is versatile, and he’s filled in across several positions during his Argyle career. But as we’ve come to learn, he’s at his best as a left wing back. Paterson is similar in a different area. There’s a difference between surviving and thriving and, whilst I believe Paterson could survive as a winger or even a wing back at Home Park, he thrives in the middle.
One annoyance, to add to a long list of other annoyances, of Miron Muslic’s departure is that I think Paterson could fit his system perfectly as the left-sided of two number 10s. Regardless though, the new head coach shouldn’t struggle to find a place for Paterson in their side. Hopefully, that’ll be as an attacking midfielder.
Experience or age?
Paterson comes to Home Park on the back of a wealth of EFL experience. As I mentioned earlier, he’s made a total of 496 professional appearances since breaking through the Walsall academy in 2010. Impressively, 356 of them have come in the Championship. He has a reputation for performing in the second tier, and has held that reputation for many years.
I fully accept, however, that there is an elephant in the room we need to acknowledge. Across this piece, I’ve been exploring Paterson’s successful final season at Swansea City. However, I only had to do that because he’s barely played now for over a year. He seldom featured for Charlotte, and his role at Coventry was as a bit-part player at most. So, has he still got it?
Ultimately, that will be the crucial question in determining whether his Home Park spell is successful. And there are signs Paterson is still able to compete. It’s actually only been a couple of months since he last scored a Championship goal, netting a dramatic late winner on the volley in a victory over Portsmouth in April.
It’s also worth acknowledging that Paterson will now be expected to perform at a lower level of football than previously. Given he only managed 86 minutes during his Coventry spell, I’m minded to believe there is merit to the claim that Paterson can no longer cut it at Championship level. But in League One, he’ll surely be able to deliver and look a cut above the rest, right?
I hope so, although it wouldn’t be the first time Argyle have signed an older player who wasn’t able to perform the way he could in the past. I think back to the signing of Adam Forshaw back in January 2024. He arrived with significant EFL experience, and even Premier League experience, and came with rave reviews from fans of his former clubs. His time at Argyle will not be remembered fondly.
Have Argyle signed an experienced player who has the perfect tools to aid their bid to bounce back to the Championship? Or have they signed someone whose legs have gone? I hope it’s the former, and I have reason to believe it will indeed be the former. We’ll soon find out for sure.