Roberts on mission to get Sunderland to top flight

Patrick Roberts has played for five different permanent bosses at Sunderland

Having found a home at Sunderland, Patrick Roberts wants to repay that gesture by returning the club to the Premier League.

Roberts finally ended a life of loans when he moved to Wearside in 2022 and he is now chasing a second promotion with the Black Cats.

The winger, now 28, played a key role in their play-off success three years ago to get out of League One and is now getting ready for the Championship play-off semi-final against Coventry City.

"I've got a lot of gratitude for Sunderland bringing me here and letting me play my football," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"The objective is to go to the Premier League and I still stand by that I can do that with this club."

Patrick Roberts made only three substitute appearances for Manchester City's first team

'Career was falling away'

Roberts had joined Manchester City from Fulham in 2015 as a teenager after a breakout season in the Championship with the west London club.

But after a few brief substitute appearances for City's star-studded line-up, he was sent on loan to Celtic at the start of 2016.

It would be the start of a nomadic existence of six different loan clubs across a six-year period.

But Sunderland brought him in on a six-month contract in 2022, desperate to end their four-year exile in League One.

"I got an opportunity at this club when I was probably falling away in my career," he said.

"I was grateful to get that chance to play."

Things were bumpy as manager Lee Johnson was sacked after Roberts' first game, but Alex Neil came in and guided the Black Cats into a two-legged play-off with Sheffield Wednesday.

It was in the second leg at Hillsborough with the tie finely poised at 1-1 on aggregate that the winger came up with an injury-time goal to take Sunderland to Wembley.

"I remember it quite well," he recalled. "It comes at you quite fast, but it was probably one of the favourite moments of my whole career."

And Roberts was there to help the side beat Wycombe Wanderers in that season's final and get back to the Championship.

Patrick Roberts' play-off goal at Sheffield Wednesday in 2022 was the most important of his nine for the club

'Promotion would mean the world'

Roberts' contribution earned him a longer contract and he was part of the side that stormed into the play-offs again 12 months later - this time in the Championship.

Then under the tutelage of Tony Mowbray, the Black Cats earned a reputation for fine football.

But their dreams of Premier League football came unstuck in the narrow confines of Kenilworth Road as Luton Town overturned a first leg deficit to make it to the final.

Now Roberts is one of four starters from 2022's Wembley success who are gearing up for a third crack at the end-of-season lottery.

"The play-offs are all about getting it done," he said. "We did it out of League One, which was a struggle, but we've got an even bigger test now.

"All the players are ready and it would mean the world to me."

Patrick Roberts (left) has played 45 games under Regis Le Bris this season

'Le Bris open to chat and ideas'

Sunderland's place in the play-offs has effectively been assured for months after a strong first two-thirds of this campaign.

But go back to last summer and few would have predicted them fighting it out for a top flight return, especially when their search for a permanent successor to the ill-fated reign of Michael Beale was dragging on.

Unheralded Frenchman Regis Le Bris pitched up at the Stadium of Light without a mass entourage of coaches behind him and hit the ground running.

Roberts reveals more about the character and methods Le Bris has used to bring the best out of a talented and youthful team.

And the London-born winger is confident that together, they can find a way of securing Premier League football for Sunderland after eight years away.

"The boss is very analytical," he said. "Even from the first day, he has been very open, always there for a chat, always there for ideas.

"But he also has his brand and way of playing that he sticks by. A lot of players bought into that and he's followed that the whole season.

"He's done well considering it's his first season in English football as it can be difficult.

"He's been a pleasure to work with and he'll have ideas and game plans ready for these next few games."