Patrick Roberts has been excellent at Celtic, and West Bromwich Albion should try and get Manchester City to agree to a loan deal.
Celtic’s Patrick Roberts celebrates scoring
Patrick Roberts’ future appears set to be up in the air this summer when his loan deal at Celtic expires and the winger returns to Manchester City.
Having enjoyed a tremendous time with the Scottish Premiership side, it would be no surprise if the Hoops wanted to extend that deal, but perhaps West Brom should enter the running and suggest to his parent club that allowing him to move to the Hawthorns is a better move for his development.
Roberts has shown during his time with Celtic that he certainly has the potential to make an impact for City at some stage in the future – especially in the Champions League clash between the two clubs when he scored a wonderful goal and was a threat all evening – but Pep Guardiola may feel that he is not quite ready to push for a chance in the Citizens’ first-team.
The Baggies – who will be looking to add more quality to their squad following a promising campaign – can offer Roberts the chance to play weekly in the Premier League, and the signs certainly suggest that he is good enough to make an impact for Tony Pulis’ men.
West Brom have struggled for goals for much of the campaign – their leading goalscorer has seven strikes to his name, while centre-back Gareth McAuley is second on the list with six goals – so adding a player of Roberts’ quality and creativity could be an extremely smart piece of business as, with Matt Phillips on the other wing, the Baggies would give Premier League full-backs plenty of problems.
And by bringing him in on loan, Pulis would be able to keep most of his transfer budget to focus on strengthening some of the areas of the squad that arguably require much more urgent attention.
And if City deem that it is time for Roberts to show what he can do in the English top flight, then perhaps they will view a switch to the Hawthorns as much more beneficial than if Celtic try and keep him beyond this summer.
West Brom manager Tony Pulis
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