Patrick Roberts has a lot on his mind right now, and whilst I generally think that’s not a positive when a player is preparing for a cup final, I can’t say I’m terribly unhappy about todays news, that Manchester City are almost there with a deal to bring Monaco winger Bernardo Silva to the club.
He was one of a number of players I named in an article last month, about their likely transfer targets. They’ve been scouting him for a while, not that they needed to. The Portuguese is a world class player who could go, and play, anywhere.
He’s the first piece of the puzzle as Guardiola tries to assemble Barcelona-Lite in Manchester.
He is proof of the intent, and the direction.
Patrick is a fine player, and he has the potential to be truly excellent, but does he have Bernardo Silva potential? I would guess not. Few players do. With so many talented footballers already available to Guardiola to play in the City midfield this is a problem Patrick doesn’t need.
A number of them already play in his favourite position, wide right.
Does this mean he has no future at City? No, but it made the future a lot harder. Silva can play comfortably either on the right or through the middle, but it’s expected that Guardiola will try to make him a goal-scoring winger in the mould of Cristiano Ronaldo or Suarez, both of whom started in a similar role before becoming attacking fulcrums.
Patrick was already facing limited opportunities at the Etihad. Guardiola seems set to brandish the cheque book still further. This will be a blow to him, but I would stipulate that he already has his next move lined up. As I said the other day, he’s a player who talks more and more like one who already has a home and is no longer pining for the city he left behind.
Two years at Celtic have given him a taste for it.
And if he wants it ,there’s a lot more of it to come.