Everton complete signing of Rangers defender Nathan Patterson

Everton have confirmed the signing of Nathan Patterson on a five-and-a-half year contract from Rangers for an initial £12m fee.

The 20-year-old, who has been capped six times by Scotland and was part of their Euro 2020 squad, becomes Everton's second January signing. Ukrainian left-back Vitaly Mykolenko recently joined from Dynamo Kyiv ahead of Lucas Digne's expected departure.

“I’m over the moon to sign for Everton and looking forward to getting started,” Patterson told EvertonTV.

“It was an easy choice to sign. This is a massive club with huge history and the fanbase is tremendous. Obviously we aren’t in the place where we want to be right now but we can definitely get there with the talent in the changing room and staff here, and I have full belief we can do that.

“It is really exciting to come to a club that has huge talent in the team. I am going to work my socks off and hopefully I can do well with them in training and in games.

“It was also great for me knowing the manager really wanted me here and that made my decision. When a club really wants you, it makes your mind up early on.

“I wanted to come here from the very start. I’m delighted to be here and really looking forward to playing in front of the fans at Goodison.

“Long-term, I want to nail down a starting position and win some trophies to make the fans proud.”

90min understands that Manchester United, Aston Villa and Wolves were all interested in signing Patterson but wanted to wait until the summer, allowing Everton to swoop in and complete a deal this month due to Rafa Benitez's insistence.