The headline isn’t as cynical as it may seem at first glance. It’s a valid question to ask, but not for the reasons that plague the typical English fan when talking about the Scottish game. Our reasoning has nothing to do with the quality of the Scottish league or what Celtic can feasibly offer in a financial sense. It comes down to one thing – if Celtic manage to win the treble and become invincible in the next fortnight what else does Patrick Roberts have to aspire to at Celtic?
Now we know you could blanket that whole reasoning across the entire squad but none of them are in Patrick’s position. A young man, who has came on leaps and bounds since joining the club on-loan under 18 months ago with the footballing world at his feet. Owned by a club with unlimited resources looking to establish themselves against the other financial heavyweights in their league.
If Patrick picks up his third medal of the season at the end of the month, apart from a crack at Europe next season, why would he stick around if he has achieved the ultimate domestic bliss?
For many other players at the club, this season has been a platform for them to discover themselves and get prepared for a Euro assault come the end of July. For Patrick, it has always been enjoying the moment, knowing there was an end on the horizon.
Let me make this clear, we don’t want him to leave and my heart says he should stick around to see what he can make of himself in Europe next season. There is large doubts in our mind that Patrick will even get a sniff at first team football next term under Pep. Playing Devils advocate though, you have to think the player wants to explore that scenario. Patrick is young enough that he can afford to throw the dice at City and see where they land.
We’ll no doubt see a plethora of protective Celtic fans absolutely perplexed as to why we would think this but it’s something that will be rolling about in the midfielders mind as the season draws to a close.
Our gut says if he stays on with Celtic he will enjoy the adulation of the support with some massive European nights to savour. If he goes back to City, a couple of league cup outings and the first few rounds of the FA Cup, maybe.
We would find it very hard to blame him if he wanted to at least try the second scenario.
We await the end of the seasons but like many loan spells we’ve enjoyed in the past we rarely see the players back after the summer – Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane two players who we were desperate to keep but ultimately didn’t.
Confident in the scouting and the manager that they have provisions in place if they don’t manage to persuade Paddy or City in the coming weeks.
Right now it’s all about making history! Mon the hoops!
I think what you say here is true of more than Roberts. I think we will ahve more of a fight on our hands than you think to keep a hold of Jozo, Armstrong and possibly Dembele. I am not influenced by recent rubbish in newspapers and terrible football sites, this si a reality. Armstrong is the worry. He is 25 and might be thinking he is hitting his peak. However, going to West Brom or Brighton seems like a waste to me. But clearly he is having a serious think. I reckon Dembele will stay for one more year. Jozo might just go but hopefully Brendan does not let him go for anything less than 15 mil, if at all. The knock on effect of this is on Rodgers. If eh is gfaced with the prospect of having to rebuild every season he won’t even see out his 4 year contract. That is why it is important that he holds on to these guys to show that we can. it is more impotrtant to keep who we have rather than add others m