Patrick Roberts joined Middlesbrough on a season-long loan in October, but it’s hard to see him having a future back at Manchester City when he returns, regardless of how he performs at the Riverside Stadium.
The 23-year-old joined City from Fulham for £11m in 2015 and has been on the periphery ever since. With Pep Guardiola having so much quality in Roberts’ position, it’s hard to see him getting a reprieve.
Where will Manchester City finish this season?
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The 5ft 5in wide-man has made only three appearances in all competitions, amassing 54 minutes of football. Roberts made his City debut in our EFL Cup win over Sunderland (September 22, 2015), came off the bench in our 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur (September 26) and made a substitute outing in our EFL Cup win over Crystal Palace (October 28).
He hasn’t played for us since and has been loaned out to 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) and Boro (January 2, 2020 – July 31, 2020) (October 12, 2020 – present) to get regular playing time.
Roberts finds himself behind Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Ferran Torres and Riyad Mahrez at the Etihad, so is there any way back for him?
In other news, Manchester City should sign Erlin Haaland to replace Sergio Aguero