Brendan Rodgers’ pulling power has come up trumps once again with Celtic welcoming Patrick Roberts back from Manchester City.
With the modern market so ridiculously inflated, it’s baffling that Celtic’s record transfer remains the £6 million they paid Coventry City for John Hartson 16 years ago, per the BBC.
However, if the Scottish champions had their way, that would have changed this summer. Manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that Celtic were more than prepared to smash their transfer record to land Patrick Roberts on a permanent deal this summer.
The 20-year-old enjoyed a fine 18 month spell with Celtic on loan from City, winning two Scottish Premiership titles, and will return for another year at Parkhead after weeks of intense negotiations with the Premier League giants.
And Rodgers’ admission that City would refuse to sell Roberts at any price just shows how well they did to get the former Fulham youngster back – even on a temporary basis.
“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,” Rodgers said in quotes reported by the Daily Record.
“They didn’t want to sell. So the best option was to get him back on loan.”
Consequently, Celtic appear to have pulled off a major coup convincing City to let them take Roberts on another loan deal – and not just because City initially preferred the idea of sending the winger out to Southampton or Ligue 1 side Nice, as reported by the Sunday Post.
Signing of the summer
The Daily Record adds that Roberts’ relationship with Rodgers was a major factor in the England youth international rejecting all offers from elsewhere and setting his heart on a return to the green half of Glasgow. Therefore, it appears that such a deal would have been impossible without the influential Rodgers pulling the strings.
The affable Northern Irishman gives Celtic considerable pulling power in the transfer market due to his reputation and connections, something Scott Sinclair admitted when swapping Villa for Celtic last summer, per The Scotsman.
And it appears Rodgers has struck gold again with Roberts.
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