Roberts all abroad after move to Spain

PATRICK Roberts has promoted the idea of young players moving abroad to experience different styles of football and a new culture.

The City winger is spending the season on loan at Girona in La Liga, and says he is improving as a player as a result.

After a slow start in Spain, Roberts has established himself in Girona’s starting XI for the last four games, and says he is loving his experience.

He said: “Big teams like Valencia, Barcelona, Real Madrid, these are the teams you want to be playing against. There’s not many players that go abroad, especially English players. You can’t discredit going abroad and obviously learning a new lifestyle, a new culture and a new style of playing football in a different league.

“I’m loving my time here at the moment. The weather’s great, the food I must say is very good as well.”

However, Roberts also spoke about the difficulties of moving to a new country without knowing any of their language.

“It can be tough,” he said. “The language is obviously the main barrier but everyone at the club has been great with me and they’ve all been understanding. Once you let the football do the talking it’s much different.”