Patrick Roberts is set for one last throw of the dice before leaving Manchester City in the summer.
The winger, who is being strongly linked with one last loan move - with League One sides Sunderland and Wigan in the picture - reaches the end of his Blues contract this summer after six years in which his feet have barely touched Manchester soil.
In fact, his only lasting impression on City fans is set to be a negative one, after his goal, and tormenting of Gael Clichy, earned Celtic a draw at the Etihad Stadium in the 2016-17 Champions League group stage.
Roberts has been loaned to City’s sister club ESTAC Troyes this season, the ninth loan of his maverick career, and another which has fallen far short of the expectations created by his talent.
He and fellow City loanees Philippe Sander, Erik Palmer-Brown and Issa Kabore found themselves at the heart of an apparent row between the City Football Group and Troyes head coach Laurent Batlles.
The coach is understood to have not wanted any of the loanees, and local sources claim he was under increasing pressure to play them from his paymasters.
That ended with Batlles handing in his notice just after Christmas, seemingly telling people close to him that he was fed up of “interference” - although the club was also hovering just above the relegation zone.
Battles had taken them up to Ligue 1 as champions last season, their first with CFG as a majority shareholder, but it has turned sour for him, the club and City’s loanees this season, amid reports that CFG wanted to see more minutes given to the Blues quartet..
Only Kabore has been a regular, with 13 starts and four sub appearances, and Roberts and Sandler are both expected to leave in the current window.
Roberts has played 14 minutes this season, as a substitute against Lyon in September.
He moved to City in 2015 in a deal worth around £11million but which City sources claim was a £2million initial outlay but which people close to selling club Fulham say was around £5million.
He played just 54 minutes for City, only four of them in the Premier League, before heading out on a series of loans.
The height of his career came at Celtic, where he scored 18 goals in 79 games, and won three Scottish league titles, two League Cups and two Scottish Cups.
The Blues turned down an £8million offer from Celtic at that time, convinced that his star was on the rise and he would either fulfil their initial hopes of making a name at City, or be worth far more in future - it was a miscalculation.
His shooting star fizzed and sputtered in Scotland and after a short spell at Girona finally got his move to the Premier League, playing just three times for Daniel Farke's Norwich before packing his bags once more.
He ran into a common problem on loan at City’s sister club Girona, where his eye-catching skills were liked by the fans but seen as frills by coaches who needed more from him in the other aspects of the game.
Palmer-Brown has two starts and a sub appearance, and Sandler one of each.
Roberts turns 25 in a fortnight, and last season made just 11 starts in loan spells at Derby and Middlesbrough.
He is set to leave on a free transfer in the summer.
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