Frank Lampard has confirmed that free agent forward and Coventry born Jamie Paterson is training with his squad.
Paterson, who recently turned 33, is helping to flesh out Lampard’s group in the week as they prepare for their forthcoming Championship fixtures, while at the same time maintaining his own fitness levels while he’s in between clubs.
Paterson began his career at Walsall, before he made the move to Nottingham Forest in 2013. He is perhaps best remembered for his spell with Bristol City, for who he played over 150 matches – including against Lampard’s Derby County.
Paterson then joined Swansea City in 2021 and continued to play regularly in the Championship before taking the plunge last year and moving to the MLS, where he reunited with his former Saddlers boss Dean Smith at Charlotte FC. He decided against extending his stay in the USA, however, and has returned to England – and to the Midlands.
It’s a situation which Lampard has described as being mutually beneficial for both parties, but that it remains a training-only arrangement for the time being and there has been no talk of a contract being offered by the Sky Blues.
“I know Jamie from coming up against him when I was at Derby, and he was at Bristol. He’s a Coventry lad, as I think a lot of people know, and he’s local to us. He hasn’t got a club at the minute,” Lampard explained.
“It’s a good experience, we’re helping him to come and get fit and train. Our squad is a little bit stretched at this current moment so I think it helps us too. We are helping each other a little bit in the short-term and that’s it. It’s just training for the moment.”
Paterson, for the intervening period, reunites with former Swansea teammates Joel Latibeaudiere and Jake Bidwell as well as his old Bristol City colleague Jay Dasilva.
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