The former Celtic star recently moved from Sunderland to Birmingham City.
Patrick Roberts has thanked Celtic for the ‘amazing’ experience they provided him - as he opens up on swapping Sunderland for Birmingham City
The winger was a promising talent that Manchester City snapped up from Fulham before a loan to the Premiership where he won seven trophies. Roberts then had an enjoyable loan to Girona in Spain before temporary moves to the likes of Norwich City and Troyes in France soon became tiresome. In an interview with Roker Report, he has thanked Celtic for the loan lessons they provided, with Sunderland called in to resurrect his career.
He helped them back to the Championship and into the Premier League before joining Birmingham City in 2025. Roberts said: “I stayed for six months, I did well for six months, and I stayed around the first team for six months at City. Trained with them every day and all these things at 17, 18, there are things that you can take from and you can build . I am 29 now.
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How did Patrick Roberts get on at Celtic?
“You can look back at them experiences and that's how I had the mentality to go out to these places and play and learn and still be playing at a high level, trying to play at a high level now. It all came from when I was 17 making that move. I think obviously Celtic was amazing and Spain was amazing as well. I think after Spain I had a big decision on what I did. Then I went to Norwich and it probably wasn't the right time.
“From the Norwich move, it started to go a different direction, I didn't rally play there and when you don't play, it's hard to find somewhere. I went to Middlesbrough. I actually really liked Middlesbrough because the manager was Jonathan Woodgate. He wanted me and he wanted to me to express myself. He was really good. I enjoyed him as a coach. I went there and enjoyed that and then COVID hit.
“Things were up in the air and I went back there, didn't really play under Neil Warnock. Then you just end up going to all these places and it's like, you can kind of see I don't really want to do that anymore. It was actually when I went to France, I thought that I can't do this anymore. Then Sunderland came about. I feel like the persistence I had and the patience I had throughout my loan moves, I deserved a club like Sunderland at that time. I think I was lucky. Not for you guys, for the position you were in, but lucky for me the position you guys were in that I had the opportunity to go there. I had to jump on and take.”
Patrick Roberts in time at Celtic.placeholder image
Patrick Roberts in time at Celtic. | Getty Images
Patrick Roberts on leaving Sunderland for Birmingham City
Roberts is now embarking on his Birmingham City adventure after joining the English Championship side permanently following his loan from Sunderland. He said: “I compared it a little bit to how Sunderland were. Wanting to kind of evolve and, you know, make that step up.
“They obviously did that in the League One and they did amazing things in League One. Obviously last year in the Championship, you know, it's always tough. First year back, you can't always get everything straight away, so it's a process. It is the way it is and you go from there. We'll keep building and we'll see what happens in the future.”
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