EARLIER today it was announced that Jonathan Woodgate had been relieved of his role as manager of Middlesbrough with Neil Warnock replacing him at the Championship club. The news that Boro had decided to change their manager as the teeter just 2 goals above the relegation zone in the EFL Championship.
Woodgate, who attempted to play fast, attractive football was suited to a player like Roberts; however, Warnock who is an old-school manager will be more interested in bringing in strong, aggressive grafters to seal Boro’s Championship survival.
Just a day before he was relieved of his duties, Woodgate said that the survival hopes of Boro rested on Roberts’ shoulders after he impressed in a second half cameo in a 3-0 defeat to Swansea at the weekend.
“He’s the difference. If you get him on the pitch as much as you can, then great. I think we’ll be all right if we have him on the pitch as much as we can. Obviously he’s not fully fit, but he’s getting there. As you can see, when he comes on he makes the team a lot better.”
Loitering at the bottom end of the Championship is not where a player of Roberts’ quality deserves to be. The Northern Echo are reporting that he will leave Manchester City and now with Woodgate, a man that rated Roberts so highly has left, Celtic should move to bring him back to Paradise.
Back May, Woodgate admitted that he would love to re-sign the 23-year-old and Woodgate said the club were planning to sit down and discuss next season with Roberts.
“We’ll sit down them (Roberts) and discuss contracts with them at some point. Let’s see what happens in that situation.”
Although with Woodgate departing, Roberts should look to a move with more stability than any of his other moves since leaving Celtic at the end of his second loan in 2018. Boro have eight games remaining to save their status and then Roberts will be free to decide his next move with City. Furthermore if it is Celtic, he will have built up match sharpness as the club begin the European qualifiers as well as the league campaign.
Roberts joined Boro on loan from Manchester City in January after an unhappy spell at Carrow Rd with Norwich. Boro find themselves towards the bottom of the EFL Championship, just two goals above Hull City in the relegation zone and instead of chasing mediocrity in England, Roberts could help Celtic create Scottish footballing history by winning 10IAR this season.
Roberts’ best time in recent years has to be the 2016/17 season in which he was unplayable at times. Also today, it was suggested that Celtic could be able to sign the English attacker in a cut price deal of £3m but will receive opposition to seal any deal.
Roberts is unlikely to break into the Manchester City first team any time soon and a move would be best for the youngster to get his career back on track. City, who shelled out an enormous fee for Roberts to Fulham in 2015 for £12m, were keen to see the value in Roberts in other markets. He was therefore sent to Girona, Norwich and Middlesbrough but injuries have curtailed his progress.
Roberts scored 18 goals in 79 appearances in Scotland and was very impressive under Brendan Rodgers in the Invincible season. He may be keen on a move to Celtic as it would give him the chance to settle, something he hasn’t had the opportunity to do since leaving Celtic.
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— The Celtic Star Editor – INVINCIBLE (@CelticStarMag) June 22, 2020
