Premier League Newcastle United really need a goalscorer – maybe they should have given Notts County’s Callum Roberts more of a chance.
Not many players go from the Premier League to Non-League and emerge with their reputations enhanced.
But Callum Roberts, the winger who was released by Newcastle United last summer after 14 years on Tyneside, looks all-but certain to be flying back up the divisions sooner rather than later. He has already made the step up from Blyth Spartans to Notts County, joining the latter in January after netting 17 times in 25 games for the former.
With a further three goals so far for the other Magpies, Roberts has now taken his personal tally to 20 for the campaign.
So will all due respect to Notts County, the oldest professional football club in England will know in their heart of hearts that Roberts’ spell at Meadow Lane is likely to be a short one.
A jet-heeled 22-year-old from South Shields has a long way to go before he proves to Newcastle that they were wrong to let him go but it’s fair to say that his first ever season of senior, first-team football could hardly have gone much better.
“I said from the start he’s a player that shouldn’t be playing at this level, he’d lost his way a little bit after his release from Newcastle,” Tyneside legend, and then-Blyth boss, Lee Clark told the club’s official website about Roberts’ move to Notts County three months ago.
“We are all very disappointed, we’re gutted because he was exceptional for us.”
It remains to be seen whether Roberts brings that ‘exceptional’ form to one of England’s top tiers sooner rather than later.
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