Middlesbrough have enjoyed an excellent season so far under Neil Warnock.

Tipped to be battling in the bottom half of the table, the Teessiders have put themselves firmly in the mix for a top six finish after performing above expectations so far.

A large part of that has been down to the performances of Warnock's core players.

One player who hs failed to hit the heights, however, is Patrick Roberts.

The Manchester City loanee faces an uncertain future at the club, but what do we know about him as the January transfer window looms? Let's take a look.

What do we know so far?

Things just haven't worked out for Patrick Roberts so far.

Despite coming in as a flagship summer arrival, the winger has been limited to just three starts in the 16 matches that he has been available for.

The last of those came over a month ago with Roberts not even making it off the bench in Middlesbrough's last three matches.

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Is an exit likely to happen?

It certainly appears likely that Patrick Roberts will return to Manchester City.

Neil Warnock has said that he wants to keep the player but won't stand in his way if he does want to leave the club and move elsewhere.

Given Celtic's emergence as a potential destination it seems like it would be a huge surprise if he was to stay at the Riverside Stadium beyond the end of January.

What that means for Middlesbrough, however, remains to be seen as they'll certainly need to replace his talents if they're to compete during the second half of the season.