Some Celtic fans are bashing their former player Patrick Roberts on his move to Championship side Middlesbrough as he was recalled by Manchester City on his spell at Norwich City.
Roberts, who was on loan at Norwich since joining the club in the summer, had his spell at Carrow Road terminated yesterday. Boro signed him in the Championship on loan and will keep him at the club till the end of the season.
The Riverside club’s boss Jonathan Woodgate has hailed the player to be ‘young and hungry’ and feels that ‘he wants to do well’.
Celtic fans: Any regrets about Roberts to Middlesbrough
Couldn't care less
We should have got him
But on seeing this, some Celtic fans are bashing Roberts for being a player who isn’t good enough, with some failing to understand why some of their fellow supporters wanted to see him back at the club.
What a waste of a career,healthy bank balance though
— Farmmonkey (@ThomasNixon4) January 2, 2020
P R 7 Middlesbrough.aye ok
— james stirling (@jamesst50264523) January 2, 2020
So boring now man
— bristow (@ryanbristow67) January 2, 2020
Because he’s a player Jaime & he’s wasting his talent not getting a game or sitting on the bench. If city never payed 12 m for him I think he might be a Celtic player by now.
— celtic (@112wilson) January 2, 2020
We dont need him. We have the magician james
— Gavin (@Gavinwim67) January 2, 2020
He didn’t want to come back, so as far as I’m concerned he can go elsewhere
— Yvonne Gordon (@yonvon) January 2, 2020
Roberts was struggling for game time at Norwich City this season. He made only three Premier League appearances and none of them were starts. He also played one game for the Premier League 2 for the Norwich Under-23s side, playing once for the side in the League Cup.
Roberts was on loan at Celtic in the 2016-17 season, when he played 47 times in all competitions for the club. He scored 11 times that season while assisting 19 times for the club. In the Premiership, he contributed to a total of 23 games.
In the 2017-18 campaign, he wasn’t as productive for the club. He played 18 times in all competitions for the club, scoring just once and assisting five times. Last season, he was on loan at Girona but assisted only once as the club got relegated to the second division of Spain.
What do we think?
Roberts could have been a good loan move for Celtic. He would have come back and, perhaps, got game time and may have scored some goals. He has been there before and it wouldn’t have been too big a transition. He would have added much-needed depth in the wide positions too.