View from north of the border of new Norwich City signing Patrick Roberts

Norwich City loan signing Patrick Roberts started out in senior football with Fulham Picture: Stephen Pond/PA (Image: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Although the greater corpus of Norwich City fans - and sporting director Stuart Webber for that matter - appreciate that more strengthening is needed ahead of the Premier League kick-off, there are only a few areas where you would have immediately identified a need for more bodies.

One of those was out wide, where Todd Cantwell, Emi Buendia and Onel Hernandez are the only tried-and-trusted options to play naturally on the flanks.

Enter stage right Patrick Roberts who, having turned 22 in February, is quickly reaching that age where he needs to show that he's on course to fulfil the bountiful potential he demonstrated as a teenager for Fulham which earned him the move to Manchester City.

But what are Norwich City getting with the former England under-20 international who arrived on a season-long loan from the Premier League champions?

Manchester City winger Patrick Roberts had a successful time with Glasgow Celtic Picture: PA (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

First off is the eye test, which reveals a technically-gifted young winger who is very pleasing on the eye to watch with his purposeful play and willingness to commit defenders on the dribble.

He also has a real wand of a left foot and that is one aspect which separates him from the other wide players mentioned above. Roberts' preferred role is cutting in from the right wing and with Norwich City's love of the underlap working so well last season, there is great potential for him to be able to enjoy the combination play aspect that Daniel Farke likes to encourage.

The most successful spell of his career following his emergence at Fulham has no doubt been at Celtic where he played an important role in Brendan Rodgers' invincible 2016-17 campaign, bagging 11 goals and a superb tally of 19 assists. He also picked up just the two bookings over the course of his 78 appearances for the Scottish champions, which is testament to a player who knows how to keep his discipline.

The winger also has to be praised for having strength of character. In the 2016 Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers, Roberts was guilty of a scarcely believable miss in the defeat which cost then-Hoops boss Ronny Deila his job.

To do that against the club's biggest rivals at Hampden, particularly with a club as acutely under the microscope as Celtic, it says a lot that he was able to bounce back the following season and deliver performances of such a high standard.

The strength of those displays in the first Rodgers campaign saw Celtic extend his 18-month loan for an additional season but that extra year did not go quite as well for Roberts, who suffered with injuries. He lost his place to James Forrest and never quite regained it.

But Hoops fans will have little other than good words to say about Roberts as his guile and technique was very much befitting of the ideals of the club. His loveable bromance with Hoops poster boy Kieran Tierney at Parkhead was just another aspect of his time in Scotland which really helped his popularity.

After three years in the goldfish bowl north of the wall it made sense for Roberts to try something new and he moved to Girona - one of Manchester City's partner clubs - to get a taste of La Liga.

Unfortunately, he failed to establish himself in a Girona side which was eventually relegated and will no doubt feel he has a point to prove in the campaign ahead.

That hunger can hopefully translate positively for Norwich and Stuart Webber's comments prove he will get a chance to shine for the Canaries.

Occasional injury issues are the main concern but the fact it's a loan defends against a Matt Jarvis scenario.

Roberts will add a new dimension to the Yellows' attacking armoury, while at the same being a player who should immediately be able to adapt to the Farkeball philosophy, so all in all it's a low-risk, high-reward move.