Brendan Rodgers: Deal for Patrick Roberts is '˜ongoing'

Patrick Roberts helped Celtic win a domestic treble last season. Picture: John Devlin

There has been widespread anticipation that the Scottish champions would conclude another season-long loan deal for the Manchester City winger this week but Rodgers has urged caution.

“It is ongoing,” the Celtic manager said. “We always have to respect that he is not our player. He is a Manchester City player, he was involved in their squad last week. We will see. We want to be as strong as we possibly can because it’s a long season with lots of games in different competitions.”

Rodgers is seeking reinforcements for his squad ahead of the transfer window closure next Thursday night and expects the capture of South African international defender Rivaldo Coetzee to be completed this weekend.

A fee of around £850,000 has been agreed with Ajax Cape Town for the 20-year-old, who will undergo his medical in his homeland under the supervision of Celtic physiotherapist Tim Williamson before he joins his national team for their World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde next week.

“There’s a Fifa medical centre over there so Tim has gone over and hopefully we’ll get that over the line this weekend,” said Rodgers. “He’s a player who can come straight into our squad and play. He’s played over 20 times for South Africa, we’ve tracked him for a while now and he suits how we play.”