Celtic Must Go All Out To Sign Patrick Roberts Permanently
Celtic, and Brendan Rodgers, in particular, have been very honest about the short to medium term future of Patrick Roberts.
Their on-loan Man City attacker will head back to the Etihad this summer and they understand he will want to fight for a place there and impress manager Pep Guardiola. The Competition will be fierce and to be brutally honest, he is unlikely to feature much if he chooses a stay in Manchester.
Another loan at Celtic Park is one option, however, Celtic could well be in a position now to try to sign the former Fulham prodigy on a permanent basis. Should Moussa Dembele leave as expected, Celtic will command a massive fee. Cash, therefore should not be an issue, so offering Man City and Roberts what they want financially should not be a major issue.
The question now is if he is worth it or not. Rodgers is clearly a fan of his and would welcome the idea of a permanent move and his stats aren’t too bad either. 4 goals in 24 league appearances is not impressive on the face of it, however, considering his actual number of minutes played he provides either a goal or an assist every 107 minutes. By next season, you would expect that to naturally improve to a goal or an assist every single game which is something Celtic cannot underestimate.
The £4.25m rated attacker has managed 2 goals and 2 assists in 9 European games this season, which includes Champions League Qualification as well. This shows that he is one of the few members of the Celtic squad who can bridge the gap and perform well against the better teams.
Overall, Roberts has provided a goal or an assist every 107 minutes for Celtic and with further improvement just about guaranteed, Celtic would have quite some player on their hands. Even if Roberts doesn’t see his long-term future in the Scottish Premiership, it would do all parties well to remember that he is just 20-years-old and could use his time at Celtic as a proper stepping stone to achieve bigger things.
For their part, Celtic must realise that whatever sort of fee they might pay Man City, it would surely come back to them by many folds in a couple of years time should Roberts feel the need to leave and move on to better things.
Whatever happens, Roberts has a big future and so those mazy runs, cutting in from the right onto his favoured left foot will most likely be a regular site for the next ten years.
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