£2.8m in the bank: Celtic dodged a huge bullet over "extraordinary" £39k-p/w flop - opinion

Celtic were undeniably busy during the recent January transfer window in terms of the number of new players they brought into the club such as Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate among others.

However, it seems as though the Parkhead club didn’t secure the signing of every player they were reportedly after, with the Northern Echo claiming that the Hoops were looking to re-sign their former loan star Patrick Roberts before he eventually made a permanent move to Sunderland from Manchester City.

During his two consecutive loan spells at Celtic Park between 2016 and 2018, the winger racked up a total of 78 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions, chipping in with 18 goals and 26 assists along the way.

Since leaving Celtic at the end of his second loan spell, the Englishman went on to play for clubs such as Girona, Norwich City, Middlesbrough, where he was picking up £39k-per-week, as well as Derby County and Troyes before eventually joining the Black Cats on a permanent deal in January on a free transfer.

Once labelled as an “extraordinary” player by Felix Magath, the 25-year-old has been anything but that during his time with the League One club, having scored just one goal in seven league appearances, earning himself an uninspiring overall performance rating of 6.27 from WhoScored, making him one of the lowest-rated players at the Wearside club.

With this in mind and the fact that he’s been passed from pillar to post across numerous clubs since he left Celtic, it’s safe to say that it may have been a blessing in disguise that the Hoops didn’t actually end up bringing the winger back to the club in January.

Also, having been on a weekly wage of £24k-per-week according to Salary Sport during his 120 weeks at Celtic Park