Celtic won their sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership silverware on Sunday as they cruised to a sensational 5-0 win over Hearts at the Tynecastle Stadium. A hat-trick of goals from Scott Sinclair, alongside a piece each from Patrick Roberts and Stuart Armstrong ensured that the Celts register the league triumph with 8 games to spare. So far, Brendan Rodgers’ men have dropped merely 4 points and unarguably, this season has been one of the finest ones for Celtic.
However, as the season approaches its concluding stages, the worry of losing out on their highly rated players has started to emerge. Make no mistake, Celtic aren’t a side blessed with humungous financial muscle like the Premier League outfits and thus, it would be very tough on their part to remain on hold of the blossoming stars beyond the ongoing campaign. One of the youngsters whose career at the Celtic Park is under immense doubt is Patrick Roberts.
Signed on loan from Manchester City in the January transfer window of 2016, Roberts’ growth and development under Rodgers at Scotland have been intriguing to witness. In his current club’s latest win, he bagged a couple of assists apart from finding the back of the net once to strengthen his stature as one of the rising starlets in the game.
In a total of 38 appearances for Celtic this term, the 20-year-old has recorded 6 goals and 13 assists and without any shadow of a doubt, it is turning out to be a very fruitful campaign for him.
Sporadic form of Nolito coupled with the fact that Jesus Navas’ contract, which confines him to the Etihad Stadium, expires in the summer and thus, Pep Guardiola must be looking forward to bringing Roberts back to the blue half of Manchester.
City would be worryingly short of wingers and in a scenario like this one, Roberts might just be called back. However, it would be a shrewd move by the former Liverpool boss if he manages to sign the Englishman on a permanent deal in the summer.
A player with quick feet, blistering pace and scintillating creativity, Roberts has an excellent knack for banging in goals as well. He toils meticulously in the final third to create goal scoring chances as well as to find spaces for his teammates.
Guardiola is likely to dig for gold in the summer transfer window and the former Fulham young gun might have a negative impact with a move back to the parent club owing to the former Bayern Munich manager’s reluctance in using relatively new prospects. Celtic should really pounce upon Roberts and sign him in the summer as Rodgers is creating a core team to ensure a European stronghold.
