Callum Thomas Owen Paterson is a professional footballer who plays for club Cardiff City and Scotland. Paterson started his career with Heart of Midlothian, helping them win promotion to the Scottish Premiership in 2015. He moved to Cardiff City in 2017, and helped them win promotion to the Premier League in 2018. Paterson mainly played for Hearts as a right-back, but was also sometimes used as a striker. Since moving to Cardiff he has mainly played as a midfielder, but will occasionally play higher up the pitch to help aid the attack. He has been praised for his work rate, pace, aerial ability, positioning, and goalscoring prowess.
Paterson began his career as a youth player at Tynecastle before joining Heart of Midlothian in 2010. A member of the club's Under-20 side he was promoted to the first team during pre-season in the summer of 2012 and made his first team debut on 14 July, in a friendly against Raith Rovers where he scored the first goal of the game. Having impressed during these pre-season fixtures, on 4 August he made his Scottish Premier League debut aged 17, in a 2–0 win over St Johnstone. He made his European debut on 23 August, in a 1–0 defeat to Liverpool at Tynecastle. On 31 August 2012, Paterson signed a new contract extending his stay with the club until 2015. On 22 September 2012, he scored his first two Career goals in a 3–0 win over Dundee Utd in the SPL. On 22 January 2013, Paterson suffered ligament damage to his foot in training that ruled him out of the Scottish League Cup Semi-final against Inverness that weekend. The injury required surgery and ultimately ruled him out for the remainder of the season. During his debut season Paterson made twenty seven appearances, scoring four times In doing so he played as a right-back, midfielder and as a striker, with the latter being the position he played in before joining Hearts. On 11 August 2013, Paterson scored his first goal of the 2013–14 campaign, when he headed home the only goal in the Edinburgh derby against Hibernian at Tynecastle. On 27 April 2014, Paterson scored a brace against city rivals Hibernian in a 2–1 win. A week later he scored again in a 5–0 win over Kilmarnock and also scored three days later against Partick Thistle. Hearts were relegated at the end of the season, but immediately won promotion by winning the 2014–15 Scottish Championship. In their first season back in the top flight, Hearts finished third in the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership and qualified for European competition. During the summer of 2016, Patterson was subject to interest from several EFL Championship sides, with Hearts rejecting two bids from Wigan Athletic. Despite the interest, he stayed at the club, managing to score 9 goals in 20 appearances, before suffering a serious knee injury on 27 December, which ruled him out for six to nine months. Despite missing the last few months of the season, Paterson managed to pick up the club's Young Player of the Year Award.
Cardiff City
On 7 June 2017, Paterson agreed a three-year deal with EFL Championship club Cardiff City. The knee injury suffered at Hearts kept him out of the first two months of the season, making his playing return for the Under-23 side in a 4–0 win over Burnley, on 18 September. On 21 October, Paterson returned to the first team, making his debut in a 1–0 win over Middlesbrough, before scoring his first goal for the club, the winner at Barnsley, a month later. Cardiff manager, Neil Warnock moved Paterson into a central midfield position in the new year, later stating the reasoning behind the move was because he couldn't defend. Following his move to the new position, Paterson scored a brace against Sunderland on 13 January and found the back of the net three times in March. He continued his good form throughout the rest of the season, scoring 10 goals, ending as the club's top goal scorer in the league, as they were promoted to the Premier League. Paterson was also voted Young Player of the Season by the Cardiff fans. Paterson played his first Premier League game against Bournemouth on the opening day of the season. As Cardiff struggled for goals, Paterson was moved into a central forward role, where he scored his first Premier League goal in a 4–2 win over Fulham.
