Jamie Paterson is excelling at Swansea - were Bristol City wrong to let go?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing in football, but Bristol City are continuing to be reminded of a potential mistake they made this summer.

Jamie Paterson is the talk of the Championship right now for his tremendous run of form with Swansea City, a team that looks to be on the up.

It took a few games for him to settle in South Wales but he hasn’t looked back since a dramatic 3-3 draw with Luton in which he scored in.

He has had eight goal contributions since mid September, including a man-of-the-match performance against bitter rivals Cardiff City in which he endeared himself to fans

The 29-year-old has built up a strong partnership with fellow summer signing Joel Piroe and out of the 20 goals that Swansea have scored this season, Paterson has been involved in half of them.

As is the case with any former player, fans have already started asking questions along the lines of ‘why did we let him go?’

Before departing City, he made 15 Championship starts last year but none came under Nigel Pearson, who wanted to put his own stamp on the squad.

Independent football writer ‘The Exiled Robin’ has suggested perhaps keeping Paterson could have come at the expense of two of Nigel Pearson’s trusted lieutenants from his Leicester City days.

He said: “Wonder what Andy King and Danny Simpson’s wages add up to compared with what Pato is on at Swansea.”

In relation to whether Bristol City have got value for money, let’s look at the playtime of both players.

Defender Simpson has been reduced to just three league games this season, playing 232 minutes, ending up on the winning side on just one occasion.

It’s not been a case of being injured either as he’s appeared on the bench ten times this season.

King meanwhile has played more minutes than him but finds himself on the sidelines for an extended period after missing the last four games due to a hamstring injury.

Injuries happen in football and Paterson himself injured his ankle when on trial with Middlesbrough, in addition to the injury that he sustained at the end of last season. You have to praise him however to show the character to bounce back and excel like he is doing.

There’s a saying that what is one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, but Paterson wasn’t that, the way he was allowed to leave on a free however is proving to be a questionable decision

He’s been adored by Swansea fans right now, including freelance sports reporter Abigail Davies, who is revelling in their bargain buy.

After another sublime display against Coventry, she tweeted: “I will never again be able to look Bristol City fans in the eye. Daylight robbery getting Jamie Paterson on a free. What a player.”

The Championship is a long season and there is plenty of football to be played with plenty of twists and turns in store. So far letting Paterson go looks to be a mistake but there will be a point where we will come back into whether it was right or not to let him depart Ashton Gate.