Patrick Roberts

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Devil may care

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Just turned 18 and Fulham want a crazy £15M for him, but the media reckons United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs are all interested.

He certainly looks a very exciting prospect at any rate;

 
Looks like the new white Sterling. Never heard of him before but his dribbling in that video is fantastic. We should be all over him if he's avalible.
 
we should be all over him. When i first saw him a year ago, i was hugely impressed
 
His close control and dribbling reminds of a certain midget from Argentina.
 
It does seem strange that if he's this talented he's not getting any games at Fulham. I know he's only 18 and Fulham are in a relegation battle but you'd think someone as talented as the claims are would be getting some game time.

Edit: just watched the video, he's definitely the next Messi and we have to sign him.
 
gza the genius said:
It does seem strange that if he's this talented he's not getting any games at Fulham. I know he's only 18 and Fulham are in a relegation battle but you'd think someone as talented as the claims are would be getting some game time.

Edit: just watched the video, he's definitely the next Messi and we have to sign him.
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He's only just turned 18 and is about the size of a 12 year old. Fulham are down near the relegation zone and the Championship can be a very physical league, most managers won't be playing a kid much in those circumstances, talented or not.
 
Another baffling decision making from Fulham.A talent like him is too good to be over protected.
 
It's hard to want to buy some English talent from the lower leagues since Zaha and Powell, but I must say, that is some impressive dribbling skills
 
What sort of name is that? No thanks.
 
Never seen him play, but his dribbling and close control in tight spaces in that video is very impressive. If he really is all that, a front three of him, Depay and Rooney (or another striker) could be deadly a few years down the line.
 
Do it. We have always tried to get the best of British talent, and Mr Roberts certainly seems to fit that bill.
 
khoazany said:
If the question is Roberts or Depay, who will you choose?
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Why not both? Roberts is still 18 and can get on as a sub while Depay can be the starter, and when Roberts start to mature the competition between them would be good.
 
limerickcitykid said:
He's only just turned 18 and is about the size of a 12 year old. Fulham are down near the relegation zone and the Championship can be a very physical league, most managers won't be playing a kid much in those circumstances, talented or not.
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I think this is the crucial point. He is 5'5" and slightly built. He is seems the kind of player who might be best served moving to Portugal or Spain early in his career.

The Championship is one of the worst leagues for him to be in for his development.
 
syrian_scholes said:
Why not both? Roberts is still 18 and can get on as a sub while Depay can be the starter, and when Roberts start to mature the competition between them would be good.
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We still have Januzaj and other players.Roberts won't even make the bench.It would be a hard time for him to break into our team even long-term with Depay and Januzaj there both of them very young.We will end up send him on loan forever again like we did with some others.

The point is you can't just stockpile talents.There must be a clear pathway for them.
 
khoazany said:
We still have Januzaj and other players.Roberts won't even make the bench.It would be a hard time for him to break into our team even long-term with Depay and Januzaj there both of them very young.We will end up send him on loan forever again like we did with some others.

The point is you can't just stockpile talents.There must be a clear pathway for them.
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Chelsea have done this successfully for a while. He could theoretically be loaned out for another year or so.

khoazany said:
If the question is Roberts or Depay, who will you choose?
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I may sound silly, but given that I am not entirely sold on Depay just yet, and I have said many times that I would prefer a more direct dribbler like Moura or Costa - I'd probably choose Roberts. From what I've seen of him - he has a greater potential than Depay, and is the 'type' of winger I would prefer. Also, I can't help but to add his 'Englishness' as an extra credit in his favour.

I think with Di Maria and Mata as regulars, plus Januzaj and Young behind, we could get through another season with what we have. Roberts doesn't look like your regular 'promising player' too - he seems extra special, like a Raheem Sterling level talent. For an English player if this nature, I think you can justify taking a chance on him, they are so rare.
 
Rozay said:
Chelsea have done this successfully for a while. He could theoretically be loaned out for another year or so.

I may sound silly, but given that I am not entirely sold on Depay just yet, and I have said many times that I would prefer a more direct dribbler like Moura or Costa - I'd probably choose Roberts. From what I've seen of him - he has a greater potential than Depay, and is the 'type' of winger I would prefer. Also, I can't help but to add his 'Englishness' as an extra credit in his favour.

I think with Di Maria and Mata as regulars, plus Januzaj and Young behind, we could get through another season with what we have. Roberts doesn't look like your regular 'promising player' too - he seems extra special, like a Raheem Sterling level talent. For an English player if this nature, I think you can justify taking a chance on him, they are so rare.
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The approach Chelsea is taking is basically scattergun approach so there are tons of failed cases among a successful case.I don't prefer that method personally since it just a waste of talents.

Yeah I think Roberts is special,too and definitely will go for him if it's my decision.
 
You can't be serious about prefering a player who can't get into Fulham's team to possibly the best footballer in Eredivisie.
 
Sarni said:
You can't be serious about prefering a player who can't get into Fulham's team to possibly the best footballer in Eredivisie.
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When Paul Scholes was at the same age as Roberts, he couldn't even play 90 min for our academy team.
 
khoazany said:
When Paul Scholes was at the same age as Roberts, he couldn't even play 90 min for our academy team.
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Yes, and when I was 18 I couldn't play for my local team in Polish 4th Division because I was crap. I didn't develop into a new Scholes. Neither will 99% of players who look promising at a very young age.

One of them has proven himself as a very capable footballer, the other has barely played. We've witnessed plenty of players who looked promising at youth level that didn't amount to much which is my point, we need proven quality at the minute to take us forward and Depay is much closer to that. They cannot be compared like that.
 
Sarni said:
You can't be serious about prefering a player who can't get into Fulham's team to possibly the best footballer in Eredivisie.
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I love when football gets simplified like this. It doesn't account for whether this just turned 18 year old who isn't in the Fulham first-team is Messi or Maradona.

It is just a comparison between the talent of Roberts and the talent of Depay. You assess those things by watching the players. It's the reason why Juventus signed a teenager from our reserves who couldn't get into the first-team, as opposed to say, Jean Makoun II! It is also the reason the PLs top 6 clubs are reportedly willing to go to war and spend big money on Roberts. I don't think it is because they regularly make a habit of getting drawn into expensive auctions for Fulham reserves.

Where exactly a 3 year-older Depay is in his own development has nothing to do with Roberts' talent.
 
Rozay said:
I love when football gets simplified like this. It doesn't account for whether this just turned 18 year old who isn't in the Fulham first-team is Messi or Maradona.

It is just a comparison between the talent of Roberts and the talent of Depay. You assess those things by watching the players. It's the reason why Juventus signed a teenager from our reserves who couldn't get into the first-team, as opposed to say, Jean Makoun II! It is also the reason the PLs top 6 clubs are reportedly willing to go to war and spend big money on Roberts. I don't think it is because they regularly make a habit of getting drawn into expensive auctions for Fulham reserves.

Where exactly a 3 year-older Depay is in his own development has nothing to do with Roberts' talent.
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Like with Zaha and Powell before. English talent has been overhyped beyond measure for ages, a player who hasn't even featured much in Championship cannot possibly be compared with a player who has a good World Cup and a brilliant top division season under his belt.

Sterling is probably the only case where a supposed English talent has gone to a top division club and is looking like a player that might not look out of place at a genuinely big club, playing week in week out holding his place. Players like Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott have looked good at times but I wouldn't want my team to spend heavy millions on them but a number of players have failed to make an impact and have not amounted to much. There's always a risk involved because of how poor English developemnt system is compared to Spain, Germany or even Italy, Netherlands and France and how few good players England produce.

Out of curiosity, how many times have you seen Roberts play against good opposition?
 
Sure the kid looks talented, but comparing him to the top leading scorer of the Eredivisie :lol:
 
Does he not play for Fulham's first team? 18 yrs old, surely if a bigger club sign him, standard would be to loan out 18 yr olds. Surprised if he isnt getting games for fulham, why not. Looks great in clips above, have heard the name mentioned before.
 
Has anyone actually watched this kid play? He looks eleven. I'm not surprised he's not getting games in the Championship. He'd get stamped.
 
People keeping mentioning his size but he's as big as Verratti and playing in a less physically testing position.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Sure the kid looks talented, but comparing him to the top leading scorer of the Eredivisie :lol:
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We used to have a similar debate (though a bit different) more than 10 years ago about CR7 and Ronaldinho.

Devil may care said:
People keeping mentioning his size but he's as big as Verratti and playing in a less physically testing position.
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Don't think the size is as much as a problem as his club.Kane couldn't get into the Leicester side two years ago (ok he did sometimes but he looks shit apparently) and look at him now.Sometimes you can't base on that to judge a young player.Football is not math.
 
Him and his family are huge Liverpool fans I think. Might give them that slight advantage this summer.
 
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