Callum Paterson Rangers snub justified as Cardiff celebrate promotion

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Rangers were interested in signing Callum Paterson from Scottish Premiership rivals Hearts – but he joined Championship Cardiff City instead.

Callum Paterson’s 2016/17 season was brought to a painful end in in December when he suffered cruciate ligament damage – but that did not stop Rangers from expressing an interest in the Hearts defender.

According to the Daily Record in May of last year, Gers boss Pedro Caixinha wanted to bring Paterson to Ibrox and were keen to lure him to Glasgow once he had recovered from that serious injury.

But, by June, Paterson had swapped Scotland for Wales. Once his contract at Hearts expired, Cardiff City decided to snap him up on a three-year deal, paying a miniscule compensation fee of just £400,000. The Daily Record claim that he snubbed Rangers because he wanted to prove himself south of the border.

And with the 23-year-old’s debut season in English football now coming to an end, you could make a case for him being the most astute bargain signing of the entire Championship season.

Neil Warnock has worked wonders on the Scotland international. He arrived at Cardiff last summer as a buccaneering right-back and, almost a year later, can call himself a prolific central midfielder.

Paterson scored 10 times in just 23 starts as Cardiff defied all expectations and sealed a shock return to the Premier League, finishing runners up behind the juggernaut that is Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Rangers, meanwhile, are limping across the finish line and could still finish as low as fourth. And there is no guarantee that Paterson would have been transformed into the dynamic midfielder we see today had he chosen Ibrox over the Cardiff City stadium last summer.