
Sunderland's 'Mini Messi' Patrick Roberts was born on this day in 1997. He has made 125 appearances for the lads and has really found a home on Wearside after being stuck in a plethora of loan spells across England and Europe prior to signing with us.
Roberts was a highly sought-after talent as a youngster, signing as a professional for Fulham at the young age of 17. 16 months after making his senior debut, the diminutive winger was snapped up by Manchester City for £12 million. At the time it was a massive fee for a player who had started just three games for Fulham, with 19 sub appearances.
Patrick’s City debut actually came against Sunderland, when they thrashed us 4-1 in the League Cup in September 2015. He came on a sub in that game for Jesus Navas. Four days later he made his Premier League debut, but his four minutes in a 4-1 loss at Spurs would be his only league appearance for Man City.
He was loaned out to Celtic on an 18-month deal. And after a successful spell (which included scoring a Champions League goal against his parent club) the loan was extended by another year. This was followed by brief loans with Girona, Norwich, Boro, Derby and Troyes which takes us all the way up to 2022, when he finally left City permanently. He joined Sunderland on a free in January, initially on a short-term contract until the end of the season.
It took Roberts a little while to get up to speed, due to his inactive loan spell at Troyes. He scored his first goal in red and white in a 2-0 victory over Crewe Alexandra, when he linked up with new signing Jack Clarke and got the finish. That partnership struck again at Hillsborough, and Roberts scored the winning goal to send the Lads to Wembley. If it wasn’t for that we might still be in League One as we speak. Roberts played in the play off final, and Sunderland won promotion to the Championship.
Similarly to the season prior, it took Roberts a little while to get a proper run of games at the start of 2022/23, with Alex Neil favouring the 3-4-1-2 formation. However, Roberts got an opportunity against Reading and he scored a brace in Sunderland’s 3-0 win at the Select Car Leasing Stadium. The former Fulham man formed a really good partnership with Manchester United loanee Amad Diallo, with the duo becoming regulars on Tony Mowbray’s team sheet. They both drifted to the right hand side and doubled up on the opposition’s left back. They are both very technically gifted players, so full backs were often left confused on who to mark. It was a very effective partnership, and won the Lads plenty of points as we reached the playoffs. We wouldn't have got to the playoffs if it hadn't been for Patrick. Many people remember the joys of that Preston away game on the final day of the season but we wouldn't have had that opportunity if Roberts didn't produce some magic in the game prior against Watford. We were losing 2-1 at home to the Hornets, in additional time, with our playoff hopes fading with every passing second, until Paddy stepped up and curled in an absolute beauty in the 95th minute.
There were some worries that teams would be tempted to come in for Roberts in the summer before the 23/24 season began, but thankfully we managed to keep a hold of him, and then we gave him a new contract in November 2023, keeping at the club until 2026 with the option of a further year. The winger seemed to struggle to adapt without his attacking partner Diallo and registered just two assists in 32 matches across the season. His main competitor for game time, Abdoullah Ba, actually registered more goals and assists (three goals, four assists) and played more games. Injuries certainly played a role in this though, as he suffered a calf injury and thigh injury within a couple months of each other at the start of 2024.
This season, he's massively improved and has already more than tripled his goal contributions with a decent chunk of the season left. The highlight, at the time of writing, would have to be his last minute equaliser at home to Bristol City which allowed us to maintain our unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light. Roberts did have a moment to forget though at Sheffield United away, missing a penalty with the score at 0-0 and that seems to have led to him being taken off of penalties.