Deila ready to give the nod to £12m man Roberts against Inverness

RONNY Deila is set to unleash £12m man Patrick Roberts against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday. The 19-year-old winger, signed on an 18-month loan from Manchester City, has two matches for the club’s development squad under his belt, with assistant manager John Collins submitting a glowing report about his performance on Monday against Dunfermline, where he scored two goals and created another.

“Patrick is much closer this week than he was last week,” said Deila. “He wasn’t up to speed when he first joined us. He’d been injured a few weeks earlier, he hadn’t played many games.

“But he’s had hard training since he’s been here and a lot of extra work,” he added. “He’s had two development games now and he was terrific on Monday night against Dunfermline. He looked lively whenever he got the ball. So I think there is a good chance Patrick will be involved at the weekend.”

Collins, a former Fulham favourite, first heard whispers about the player’s ability when he left his former club for Manchester in the summer of £12m. While he feels the money in the English game is obscene for a player who has made only 20 substitute appearances for Fulham, he is excited at the prospect of working with the player and believes he can handle the expectation. The winger has had to adjust to the amount of defensive work Celtic require from their wingers.

“He is a dribbler, but he has a finish on him too,” said Collins. “One of the goals on Monday was a chip from 20 yards, the other was into the top corner. Ultimately he will be judged on his end product. He has to create chances and score goals, as well as work hard without the ball. We have been working with him on that, because I don’t think he has been asked to do quite as much off the ball at his previous clubs as we expect. But he has trained well.”

“When you talk about figures like £12m, sometimes people up in Scotland see it as a massive fee and expect a lot, and for a player to be ready right away,” he added. “But we have to be realistic. It’s a strange market financially in England. He’s only played 20 substitute games for Fulham. Normally, in days gone by, for £12m you’d have played three years at the top, have 30 international caps and 20 goals, but the world has changed down there. But he’s got talent and that’s why they’ve paid so much money for him.”