Patrick Roberts, A Citizen or a Bhoy?

At the end of last season, the question as to whether most Celtic fans would like to make Patrick Roberts’ loan permanent would have been met by a resounding yes, following impressive performances against Hearts and Aberdeen in particular.

They may have, however, reluctantly conceded that he possibly lay just beyond the financial constraints of a club that has not had much history of paying the other side of five million for players EVER, not to mention in recent years.

Chris Sutton, despite having signed for us 16 years ago, is still our joint biggest outflow of cash alongside John Hartson the following year, both for around £6million. Most fans will undoubtedly know that Patrick Roberts could cost Man City up to £12million with an initial fee thought to be around £4 or £5 million. This cast some doubt over whether or not Celtic would have the buying power to keep him at the club. That, alongside the notorious premium which is being paid for English players in the Premier League at the moment, makes this look, unfortunately, even less likely.

Despite this, Rodgers definitely does seem to have an extra bit of clout at Celtic Park than either Neil Lennon or Ronny Deila, the former being, of course, very inexperienced and the latter having originally been a candidate for the assistant manager job at Celtic. Add Champions League money to this and the possibility of a bright future for the player at Celtic, maybe, just maybe, a deal could be manufactured.

Having come in over the summer, Pep Guardiola seems to have had a clear policy of valuing season-long loans over the sale of players he knows are not in his immediate plans. Senior players such as Samir Nasri and Joe Hart have been sent out on loan while Yaya Toure has been frozen out completely. Perhaps he may decide not to cash in on Roberts but instead send him on to another club as was done with Jason Denayer to Galatasaray under Pellegrini last season and to Sunderland this season.

The positives from a Celtic fans perspective, however, do exist. The high-profile signings of wingers Nolito and Sané during the summer by Man City will have helped to strengthen our optimism. Sterling is in hot form, which I would suggest is a good news for Celtic fans and with Jesus Navas and even Silva being able to play in wide positions, the wing is a strong area for City.

This is without getting into the less likely prospects, such as the unlikely return of Nasri at the end of the season, and Pep’s own signing, the 19-year-old Ukrainian, Zinchenko, currently on loan with PSV, supposedly capable of playing anywhere across an attacking midfield three. Options they have aplenty.

Back to the present, this season Roberts has made nine appearances, a large amount of which coming from the bench and has only scored once, in the return leg against Lincoln. The reason behind this? James Forrest.

One could have been forgiven for thinking he was a new signing, as indeed he certainly feels like one. Beyond recognition from the James Forrest of past seasons, he has even managed to score a goal with his left foot against a resilient Alloa side. He has four assists already to his name and earned a feature in Celtic’s August Goal of the Month competition against St Johnstone. His superb performances of this season with five goals so far raise a new question about Roberts.

Are we really going to break the bank for a young lad who as of right now is the second choice in that position? As much as we may still be smitten with him and he undoubtedly is a top talent, for both positive and negative reasons, his stay with Celtic being extended seems unlikely.

However, the season is still young, and any impact he may make against his parent club on Wednesday night could go a long way to deciding his destiny. One person you have to feel sorry for in all of this is Kieran Tierney, whose bromance is on another level with the winger. Most importantly, will he stay, or will he go?