According to Mike McGrath of the Telegraph, Patrick Roberts is ‘set to sign’ for Middlesbrough on a season-long loan. With Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Ferran Torres for competition, the 23-year-old didn’t stand a chance of getting playing time under Pep Guardiola, so his best bet was to seek first-team football elsewhere.
Where will Manchester City finish this season?
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This will be Roberts’ sixth temporary spell away since joining from Fulham in 2015 – Celtic (February 1, 2016 – May 31, 2017) (August 28, 2017 – May 21, 2018), Girona (August 16, 2018 – June 30, 2019), Norwich City (July 1, 2019 – January 1, 2020), Middlesbrough (January 2, 2020 – July 31, 2020) – and will see him return to the Riverside Stadium after last season’s six-month stay.
Roberts has made only three appearances in all competitions for us, the last of which came in 2015. He impressed on loan at Celtic (78 appearances, 18 goals, 26 assists), underperformed at Girona (21 appearances, 0 goals, 1 assist) and was hit and miss at Boro (11 appearances, 1 goal, 3 assists). The North-East outfit have given the 23-year-old another opportunity to prove his worth, however, so he’ll hope to shine to put himself in the shop window.
Roberts has two years remaining on his deal here and is under no illusions about the situation. The wide-man is pretty much auditioning for a new club at this point.
In other news, Tosin Adarabioyo could leave Manchester City this summer