Callum Paterson is the definition of a utility man.
A right-back turned wing-back who became a striker and then an attacking midfielder, the Scotland international is a man for any occasion. A master of the art of versatility with an eye for goal, Sheffield Wednesday’s latest arrival had to use it on his debut against Queens Park Rangers. He started Saturday’s 1-1 draw playing up front — and ended it as a makeshift centre-half.
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But he has been signed to be Wednesday’s new target man.
Arriving at Hillsborough from Cardiff City in a £500,000 deal, the 25-year-old will add physicality and a focal point and looks to be a value for money, given his age and Championship scoring record.
Over three years in the Welsh capital after signing from Edinburgh club Hearts, Paterson impressed with 21 goals and eight assists in 106 games across England’s top two tiers and the domestic cups following promotion under Neil Warnock in 2018. Utilised as a lone striker and an attacking midfielder by Warnock, Paterson left Cardiff as a popular player.
Debut 👊#SHWQPR pic.twitter.com/D9TeRC4RMw
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) October 3, 2020
“I think he sees his future up front, which suits him,” Paterson’s former Hearts manager Gary Locke tells The Athletic. “When he was a young kid coming through at Hearts and in the reserve side, I genuinely saw him playing in every single position. He played right-back, left-back, central midfield, centre-half, up front, as a winger. When he was a young kid, it was difficult to decide what was his best position. Then he came to see me one day and he said he saw himself as a more forward-thinking player, so we played him up front as well and he banged quite a few goals in.
“He’s brilliant in the air. For me, that’s probably his biggest asset. If Sheffield Wednesday get a corner or a free kick and they put it in the box, he’s absolutely deadly at attacking it. He does get a lot of goals from set pieces, which will be handy for them. He’s a big lad — 6ft 2in, 6ft 3in — and he’s got an absolutely fantastic spring. When he jumps in the air, it’s a phenomenal height that he gets up, and he hangs in the air as well. It’s not as if he just jumps and comes straight back down — he hangs in the air really well.
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“He’s got physicality in his locker, that’s for sure. He can look after himself and he’ll be ready to play because he’s just come off the back of playing a couple of games with the national team.”
Paterson added much-needed physicality to Wednesday’s attack against QPR, looking eager to impress as he rode a couple of rough early challenges and saw a decent effort deflected wide of the post in the first half. Service for the front pairing of Paterson and Josh Windass will need to improve if they are to drag Wednesday out of relegation trouble.
Monk’s men did find an opener early in the second half — thanks to Yoann Barbet turning Adam Reach’s cross into his own net.
Paterson continued to work hard, rising to flick long balls on for Windass and applying pressure that nearly paid off as Reach and Massimo Luongo saw good chances saved and ricochet off the bar.
Three injuries to centre-backs — teenager Liam Shaw, his fifth-minute replacement Liam Palmer (who was himself subbed for Moses Odubajo at half-time) and Tom Lees all went off — then led to Paterson filling in at the back in stoppage time, with Wednesday down to 10 men having used all their substitutes. Macauley Bonne’s 96th-minute equaliser was tough to take.
The performance against QPR and his determination to impress after slipping down the pecking order at Cardiff will provide motivation for Paterson to become a leading man in Monk’s team, which is packed with versatile players. Where wingers have been used as strikers and defenders converted to wing-backs in Wednesday’s new 3-5-2 system, Paterson is likely to be given a leading role.
As a target man linking up play, he could prove effective for a side that lost strikers Steven Fletcher and Atdhe Nuhiu in the summer.
The image below shows one example of him while at Cardiff, flicking the ball on for second striker Junior Hoilett in a 2018 match against Tottenham Hotspur.
Under Warnock, Paterson was encouraged to watch videos of last season’s Championship top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic to try to model his play on the combative Fulham striker.
But Paterson is no slouch either, applying an intense press when asked to play as a lone striker for Cardiff. That will stand him in good stead in Monk’s system, which has an eye on playing with greater urgency to make recoveries higher up the pitch.
Should Wednesday need to use him elsewhere, he is also more than capable with the ball at his feet.
This image shows him delivering a quality cross from a wide position for Cardiff, which led to a goal in January’s FA Cup win over Carlisle United.
Wednesday’s problem this season has been not having anyone to finish off those chances, which is where they will want Paterson to be.
Top scorer for Hearts in the 2013-14 Scottish Premiership season as a teenager, Paterson has the potential to make a significant contribution to Wednesday’s goal tally this season and is at an age where he has plenty of time to develop further.
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“Touch wood, he rarely gets injured as well, so he’s going to be available,” says Locke. “He was a reasonably quiet lad when he was younger at Hearts but he was great in the dressing room. He liked a laugh and a joke and he does get involved. You can see from his goal celebrations — he makes up some horrific dances. If he’s dancing then at least he’s scoring goals and that’s probably the biggest compliment you can pay him, but he’s a great boy to have about the club.
“His dancing’s not got any better over the last three or four years but Sheffield Wednesday are getting a versatile player who will be a very good asset.”
(Top photo: Rich Linley – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Nancy Froston is EFL Correspondent for The Athletic, covering the Championship, League One and League Two. She previously reported on Sheffield Wednesday for the city's newspaper, The Star. Follow Nancy on Twitter @nancyfroston
