Jamie Paterson could not build on a brilliant start at Nottingham Forest – but is flying at Bristol City right now.
Jamie Paterson’s debut season at Nottingham Forest offered real hope for the future. The attacking midfielder, who joined from Walsall for a fee rising to around £1 million to previous summer, per the Nottingham Post, scored 12 goals in all competitions while a clinical hat-trick in a 5-0 thumping of West Ham in the FA Cup hinted at his potential to play at a higher level.
However, that was about as good as it got for Paterson at the City Ground. Just one goal in 25 games followed in a hugely disappointing debut season. And, after a loan spell at Huddersfield Town, it was little surprise when he departed for Bristol City in the summer of 2016.
There remained a real sense of what might have been, however, about one of the most talented players to feature in Forest colours in recent years. And it is only now that Paterson is finally showing the form that turned so many heads during his first season in the East Midlands.
Bristol City have been one of the Football League’s great entertainers in the opening weeks of the new season and Paterson’s vision and expert playmaking is a major factor. In 11 Championship games, the 25-year-old has scored twice and set up another five, making this his most productive season in the second tier in terms of assists.
He even set up two more to cap a Man of the Match performance in Saturday’s hugely impressive 3-1 win away at high-flying Ipswich Town.
It’s this kind of form that will have Forest fans wondering what might have been.
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