According to Mike McGrath of the Telegraph, Patrick Roberts is ‘set to sign’ for Middlesbrough on a season-long loan. With Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Ferran Torres for competition, the 23-year-old didn’t stand a chance of getting playing time under Pep Guardiola, so his best bet was to seek first-team football elsewhere.
This will be Roberts’ sixth temporary spell away since joining from Fulham in 2015 – Celtic (February 1, 2016 – May 31, 2017) (August 28, 2017 – May 21, 2018), Girona (August 16, 2018 – June 30, 2019), Norwich City (July 1, 2019 – January 1, 2020), Middlesbrough (January 2, 2020 – July 31, 2020) – and will see him return to the Riverside Stadium after last season’s six-month stay.