It could be a busy end to the summer transfer window for Celtic as they are reportedly eyeing four more signings after their deal for Luis Palma goes through.
Who have Celtic signed this summer?
The Hoops have already secured deals to sign Hyeok-kyu Kwon, Hyun-jun Yang, Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Marco Tilio, and Odin Thiago Holm on permanent moves to bolster their squad.
Palma is now set to be their seventh arrival in a £3.5m move from Aris FC but Brendan Rodgers is seemingly still eyeing more players to improve his side before Friday's deadline.
One player who could be an excellent addition over the coming days is reported transfer target Patrick Roberts, who has entered the final 12 months of his contract with Sunderland and has already enjoyed one spell at Parkhead.
How good is Patrick Roberts?
The 26-year-old maestro is a superb creator who could form a fearsome link-up with current Celtic star Alistair Johnston down the right flank this season.
As a left-footed right winger, Roberts has the potential to create an exciting relationship out wide with his right-back due to his ability to cut inside onto his favoured foot to open up space for the defender.
The Black Cats star could provide Johnston with more opportunities to deliver quality crosses into the box by dragging the opposition's left-back infield to leave room for the Canada international on the overlap.
During the 2022/23 campaign, the Canadian ace created five 'big chances' in just 14 Scottish Premiership outings, whereas Anthony Ralston produced one in 16 league matches for the Hoops from right-back.
This suggests that Johnston is already Rodgers' outstanding creative threat from that position but imagine what he could do with more chances to attack due to Roberts' play on the right.
Of course, this theory that the English wizard's presence would open space for the full-back only works if his performances warrant the opposition taking extra care to follow him inside, which his form for Sunderland suggests that they would.
Roberts created ten 'big chances' and assisted seven goals from the wing for the Black Cats in the Championship last term, with journalist Josh Bunting having stated that he is "shining" earlier this year. Meanwhile, no current Celtic winger managed more than five Premiership assists.
The former Manchester City man has also started the current campaign in sublime form with 2.7 chances created per game across three league outings, which is 0.6 more than any Hoops player made last season and 0.7 more than any ace with at least two appearances has conjured this year.
These statistics suggest that Roberts, who assisted 26 goals in 78 matches on loan at Celtic earlier in his career, has the ability to be a terrific creator for the Bhoys with his knack for consistently splitting open the opposition defence to provide his teammates with chances in front of goal.
This means that the talented maestro could attract attention from opposition defenders, which would then allow him to drift inside before using his left foot to play a reverse pass into space for Johnston to whip crosses into the box.
Therefore, pairing the two down the right could be a dream for Rodgers to deploy week-in-week-out and cause constant problems for teams to deal with when defending, which is why the Sunderland dynamo could be an excellent addition to the squad.
