City loanee wanted north of the border by Rodgers
CELTIC boss Brendan Rodgers admits he would love to sign Patrick Roberts on a permanent basis – if City were willing to let him go.
The 20-year-old has enjoyed an impressive 18 months on loan at the Glasgow giants and has won back-to-back titles in his time at Parkhead.
Roberts underlined his quality, again, with a man-of-the-match display against St Johnstone on Saturday, which extended Celtic’s unbeaten domestic run to 43 games.
And Rodgers admits Celtic would be at the front of the queue if Pep Guardiola decided to sell the winger in the summer.
“He’s a player we would love to have here permanently, of course, but we have to respect he’s still a City player,” he said.
“But if there’s ever a possibility of doing it, then it’s something I would look at.”
Roberts decided against playing in the Under-20 World Cup so he could be available for the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen on May 27 – which could be his last game for the club.
And Dedryck Boyata, who spent nine years at City, believes his Celtic team-mate is destined for the very top.
“I cannot predict the future but Patrick is a very good player with great abilities,” he said. “He deserves to play at the biggest level in the world.
“I’ve been at Manchester City, I know how difficult it is to get your chances when you’re a young player. For Patrick, I can only wish the best for him there.
“He knows it’s not going to be easy but he will give the best he can and everybody here knows his qualities.” WILLY Caballero has told City he wants to stay next season.
And the Blues goalkeeper has indicated he would be happy to continue as the number two, with Pep Guardiola’s plans for the position still unclear.
City are expected to move for a new first-choice goalkeeper after the decision to bring in Claudio Bravo backfired. Bravo is out for the rest of the season through injury, which means Caballero has been given five games to persuade Guardiola he should be kept on, with his contract due to expire this summer.
He made his case well against Crystal Palace with a fine onehanded save from Christian Benteke, which preserved City’s lead in a crucial phase of the match.
Caballero is 35 and Bravo 34, and with England under-21 keeper Angus Gunn also in the mix, Guardiola’s plans are not formed.
Caballero will not sit down with the club until the season is over, but he wants to be part of it, saying: “It’s an amazing team and club with fantastic players, so I think every player wants to stay in my position.”
Asked whether his decision will depend on him being first choice, he replied: “No. It depends on a lot of things, but the most important thing for me is to do my best.
“I have my opportunity to play now and to try to show what I can do and how I can help the team.
“So I have to keep going, and afterwards we will speak with the club and my agent.”
Caballero has won over City fans who were unsure about him until his penalty shootout heroics against Liverpool in last season’s League Cup final at Wembley.
And he says the uncertainty over his future is not a problem in terms of concentrating on the job in hand.
“I’m the same, a professional fully player, we try to be focused,” he said. “I have been focused in the last eight months when Pep arrived here and I have been professional from the first day. “Now I have an opportunity to play and a big opportunity to be in goal and try to qualify with this club, after that we will see what happens. “I tried to be focused when Claudio started to play again and I trained well, I kept my professionalism. “Unfortunately, he probably can’t play until next season but I trained really hard for this opportunity.” Caballero is unsure whether he has a stake in it, but he feels City have a big future under Guardiola. He said: “Our target is to finish in the Champions League position. “We have to go step by step. We took the first step on Saturday. “The club and Pep have a lot of things to fix, or to buy players, but it’s in our hands now - we have to try to win the next game.” Willy Caballero