ON-LOAN Celtic winger Paddy Roberts hasn’t ruled out extending his time at the six-in-a-row champions.
The exciting attacker, who scored a peach of a goal in the 5-0 rout of Hearts at the weekend, has been at Parkhead for 18 months and returns to Manchester City at the end of the season.
Roberts hopes to impress Etihad boss Pep Guardiola, but the England Under-21 starlet admits it’s still possible he could return to the Hoops for the next campaign.
He said: “I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. Everything is an option to me. Football is crazy, we will see when it gets down to it.
“I have enjoyed every minute of playing on the pitch here. You never say never, but I will get to that when I get to it. I just have to think about the games we have ahead now.
“I’ve won the title twice and the League Cup, it’s been good for me. It’s taught me the mentality you need to win.
“It should put me in good stead for my career. Whatever team I go on to play for you need the experience of winning big games and titles.
“Celtic have been brilliant with me. If any young player asks me about coming here then I’d tell them it’s a no-brainer.
“It’s a massive club with huge expectation and when you get the wins it’s better than you can ever expect.”
Celts boss Brendan Rodgers also insists he wouldn’t rule out a new temporary transfer.
He added: “I wouldn’t say there’s no chance. He’s a young player who loves it here.
“Patrick will go back and he’ll want to fight to see if he can get into the City squad.
“They are one of superpowers now in terms of finance and squads in the game, so I’m sure he wants to go in and work with Pep Guardiola for a bit and see how all of that works out.
“And then over the course of pre-season, they’ll decide what happens.
“Is he going to stay and be around the squad or does he need to go out on loan again?
“If he does, I’m sure this will be a really attractive option to him. It’ll just depend.
“Initially, for the qualifiers, I doubt he’d be here. But there is a long way to go before we would know what is happening.
“He’s only spent six months at City before he’s come up here.
“And he has become a winner here. He has become a man. He’ll go back thoroughly prepared to fight for a place in their squad.
“But, if his situation changes, I’m sure we’d be a great option.”
The Celtic support would certainly welcome a big money move to secure Paddy on a permanent deal.
He can be a hero at Celtic whereas he is unlikely to be anywhere near the Manchester City first team next season.
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