Based on the video on Youtube, he looks more of a left footed, right winger. Pacey, tricky and a good delivery. Would add balance, having two pacey wingers. Id be tempted to play a few games vs shorter, more technical sides, with wingers and Buendia behind Pukki, centrally.
John Percy of the Telegraph is reporting that Patrick Roberts is all sorted: Medical passed, deal agreed. Interesting that his Man City deal is currently up in 12 months time.
There's been a bit of a spat on twitter recently with ex-journalist Mick Dennis complaining of the 'churnalism not journalism' culture prevalent in sports reporting, how many outlets are happy to report spurious rumours without checking facts, in particular the likes of ReadNorwich, and also EDP/Pinkun. Highlighted that it was never Michael Bailey, Paddy Davitt, etc responsible for those articles, because they knew better, and would actually fact check to see if there was anything going on. With that in mind, Michael Bailey has just written an article about the Patrick Roberts speculation.
This would seem to have all the hallmarks of a SW signing. At 22, he's at a good age with varied experience. Be pleased if it happens. Citeh might have an option for another year when his deal expires.
If this loan signing is happening. I am very happy. A fantastic player. I can see him coming off the bench on the right wing when we need a goal. Him taking on players and getting shots away. A great option in the squad. Mainly a winger, on either side, but can also sit behind the striker. Loves a shot. Loves to dink his way past players. Love it.
If Man City see our club as a place they like to send players on loan. They just buy all the best players in the world. If we have a loan relationship, that's great!
More support for your idea: "Pep Guardiola's side are said to have been impressed by newly-promoted Norwich's handling of goalkeeper Angus Gunn's loan two seasons ago, putting them ahead of their competition in the race for Roberts." https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/...leicester-city-target-patrick-roberts-2921454
It could also be the quality of the coaching. Roberts lost his way last season in Spain. Citeh paid £12m to prise him from Fulham. The test is can DF do for Roberts what he's done for Leitner, Stiepermann and Vrancic to help him get back on track and realise his potential. If so, we could have quite a player next season.
This is all well and good if we then get the player at the end - like Palace have done with Zaha - but it’s a real mug’s game if he’s just going to go back to Man City with our club’s coaching and they reap all the rewards of us playing him, taking the risk on his development, coaching him when it could be one of our own etc. I don’t know if it’s ever done, but I’d like to think that we could argue for a sell-on fee where there is a loan like this and the player subsequently (e.g. within three years) gets sold on for a big profit. Otherwise it’s pretty harsh on us.
I agree with that view when it's an 18 or 19 year old, Rob, but Roberts is 22 with good experience at Fulham and Celtic and a harder year in Spain for a team struggling against relegation. SW and DF obviously feel that he could be a good fit and help our cause. Harrison Reed was a similar case which proved to be good for him and good for us. If Roberts helps us to survive for the cost of his wages and a loan fee then all concerned benefit. One of the downsides of promotion is that it will make promoting our U23 players to the first team much more difficult. For Citeh, that's even more difficult. Like them, we'll have to loan out our young players to get the experience they need.
Plus he cost Man city over £10m , if we break him or he turns out to be guff we can send him back . It works both ways .
not convinced if we get relegated but he has a breakthrough season and an Everton lays £25m for him, I’ll be a little miffed if we do not get a slice of that remember he would be replacing one of our own, who we could equally sell on for a profit
We wouldn't be able to afford to buy him so it wouldn't matter how good or bad he us after the loan as he wouldn't have been with us anyway.
Equally though, we have a finite budget. Attacking players are expensive, someone equivalent could well have cost us £10m+ (City paid £12m for Roberts), half our budget for this summer. If we've identified the need for 4 players, and loaning Roberts covers one of them, we might be able to spend £6-7m on the rest. Buy Roberts (or similar) for £10m, those other players can only cost £3m, or we have to choose which position we don't cover. For sure, turning Cantwell (or similar) into a player we can sell for £25m is ideal, but equally we can't have every new signing be a project that takes 12 months to bed in, like Vrancic or Stiepermann. I can't find anything to say Man City have an option on Roberts beyond next summer, so there's strong potential to turn this deal permanent. This is a good read on his time in La Liga: https://talksport.com/football/455302/patrick-roberts-manchester-city-girona-la-liga/
