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The curious case of Mansfield Town's Tyler Roberts after his journey with Leeds United and Birmingham City.

When Tyler Roberts first burst onto the professional scene, the narrative was one of raw talent waiting to be moulded, but Leeds United got far more from him than the likes of QPR and Birmingham City.

A product of West Bromwich Albion’s academy, Roberts had fleeting first-team exposure with the Baggies before spells on loan at Oxford United, Shrewsbury Town, and Walsall, where he caught the eye by scoring a handful of goals at a young age in League One.

That promise earned him a move to Leeds United in January 2018 to play under Marcelo Bielsa — a manager renowned for transforming player roles and improving even peak-age players and beyond. Unsurprisingly, Roberts’ development took an intriguing turn.

Initially seen as an out-and-out striker, Bielsa’s system often utilised him in deeper, and often more creative roles. As well as the most advanced player. The Welshman operated across the forward line, drifting into the spaces around the striker or as a centre-forward himself, before slotting into attacking or central midfield positions.

Tyler Roberts' struggles after joining Birmingham City from Leeds United

Across 108 appearances for Leeds, Roberts scored nine goals and registered 10 assists in all competitions — an honest return, if not headline-grabbing — and played his part in the club’s rise back to the Premier League. In the English top flight alone, he managed 50 Premier League matches with two goals and three assists.

It wasn't spectacular by any means, but Bielsa had transformed into more of an all-action player, with his ball-carrying a strength in central spaces to progress the ball up the pitch. Roberts illustrated that while end product wasn’t prolific, Bielsa trusted his versatility and work ethic in one of the toughest leagues in the world.

The peak of Roberts' Elland Road story came in spells where he was more than a goalscorer — a carrier, a link-player, a pressing outlet, a coachable midfielder in a fluid Bielsa system. For a time, it felt like he might finally “kick on” and fulfil that early potential shown with the Baggies.

However, the trajectory that began with such promise stalled badly post-Bielsa. A season-long loan to Queens Park Rangers in 2022/23 offered a fresh setting but was blighted by fitness issues and inconsistent form. Instead of momentum, Roberts returned with patches of promise overshadowed by fitness frustration.

In the summer of 2023, he sealed a permanent transfer to Birmingham City. He was signed with hope that his experience and attacking acumen could bolster Blues' forward line and attacking midfield options. Yet, reality fell short of the optimism. Across 21 appearances for Birmingham, Roberts failed to score, with his minutes interrupted by injury gremlins that seemed disproportionately worse than anything he suffered at Leeds.

Rather than becoming a linchpin, he became more of a sick note, and thus slipped down Blues’ pecking order and was eventually loaned out to Northampton Town in League One — a move aimed at reigniting confidence. Even there, goals were hard to come by for much of the campaign, underscoring a deeper decline in form that couldn’t simply be attributed to opportunity or lack thereof.

This period revealed a harsher truth: the spark that made Roberts an intriguing Bielsa utility man was being dampened by a combination of diminishing returns, tougher physical setbacks, and, perhaps most cruelly for an attacker, a prolonged goal drought stretching back to early 2023 at one stage.

Tyler Roberts' move to Mansfield Town from Birmingham City

In the summer of 2025, Roberts’ journey took another turn — this time to Mansfield Town in League One, marking a full exit from the Championship and a stark fall from the heights of Premier League football. Reports in January have confirmed his permanent departure from Birmingham and subsequent signing with Mansfield.

It's fair to say that this has nudged his career into a new chapter that few would have predicted seven years earlier, or even as little as five years ago when an improving component of Bielsa's Leeds team. Mansfield, perhaps spotting that potential for the 27-year-old, have swooped to sign him permanently this month.

That's after scoring three in nine games, despite having not played for Nigel Clough's side since November. The goals in minimal minutes are a small but noteworthy sign that he might rediscover the joy and confidence that once made him a Bielsa favourite. Yet, this is far from the expectation that greeted him at Elland Road or St. Andrew's.

Looking at the situation in full, it could be argued that the 27-year-old has had five-and-a-half-years that bridged League One, Championship and Premier League football, evolving from forward to attacking midfielder and even more of a central midfield conduit at one stage.

A player who once looked capable of establishing himself in England’s top two tiers has seen injuries and stagnation essentially reshuffle his deck — moving from hopeful Championship staple to the worst of his fitness problems in League One. Whether Mansfield represents a springboard back to higher levels or the setting of his professional plateau remains to be seen.

For now, though, it’s undeniably been a fall from grace post-Bielsa and Leeds for the Welsh international. It serves as a reminder that talent can only flourish if luck, health, and opportunity align — and Roberts has strongly suffered when they haven’t.