Brendan Rodgers says Celtic’s top deal could not be done at £30 million

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Celtic boss says Manchester City would not sell Patrick Roberts even if they offered £30 million.

Celtic struck a deal to sign Patrick Roberts late in the transfer window, but it was ‘only’ another loan move.

Roberts has spent the past 18 months at Celtic and become a real fan favourite, playing a part in their unbeaten domestic season in 2016/17.

Celtic had wanted to do a permanent deal for the Manchester City winger, but despite not being able to offer him a first team role, the English title challengers were reluctant to sell him.

Rodgers told The Mail that City would not have sold even at £30 million, almost four times the amount (£8m) which Celtic bid.

He said: “We would have broken our transfer record for Patrick. We wanted to find the deal that would get him back here.

“But he’s a Manchester City player. We could have offered them £30m and they would have said no.

“They didn’t want to sell. So the best option was to get him back on loan.”

Celtic did not put the money on the table to find that out definitively, but Rodgers sounds assured that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes he has a future at The Etihad and does not want to give him up for good.

The loan move keeps the situation ticking over, and now Celtic will have to hope that next summer the situation changes.

This could be from Roberts becoming more forceful in pushing a permanent switch, or City adding more and more attacking players which makes it no longer viable for City to retain him.

Roberts may feel like he is in limbo a little, but he is lucky to have two clubs wanting him, and he is at the better one for his development right now as he will get the chance to play.