Wolverhampton Wanderers are eyeing up a move for a Championship goalkeeper as Julen Lopetegui plans ahead for next season…

What’s the news?

According to journalist Alan Nixon of The Sun, Wolves are keen on signing Sunderland stopper Anthony Patterson during the summer and have made him a major target ahead of next season, although they face competition from fellow Premier League side Leicester City.

Sunderland could demand around £10m for their player's services, and considering that the 22-year-old is described in the report as 'one of the best young stoppers around', that figure could be an absolute bargain for Lopetegui.

“Commanding” Sa replacement?

The Wolves boss has enjoyed an excellent start to life at Molineux, rejuvenating a club which threatened to relinquish their Premier League status with a whimper under his predecessor Bruno Lage, and their recent 3-0 victory over Liverpool proves that they are on the right track to remain in the top flight.

Although Wolves’ problems earlier on in the campaign lay mainly with a goal-shy front three and a shaky defence, with just three goals scored  and nine conceded in the league before Lage was sacked four months ago, Jose Sa was one of their better performers.

However, the 30-year-old has conceded an average of 1.4 goals per game this season, 30 in total, and kept just six clean sheets in 21 league matches. He has saved 2.9 shots per game, which equates to a save percentage of 67%, and has successfully stopped two out of three penalty kicks.

The “dominant” ace - as described by former Wolves 'keeper Matt Murray following Sa’s excellent performance against Everton in 2021 - could well be looking over his shoulder now that Lopetegui has an up-and-coming young talent in his sights, and the Portuguese stopper may boldly be ditched in favour of Patterson come the summer.

The 22-year-old has achieved a Sofascore rating of 6.89/10 so far this season for his performances, conceding 1.1 goals per match, making 2.5 saves per game – at a success rate of 69% - and saving one of the two penalties he has faced this term, and these figure show a slight improvement on Sa.

Patterson also has an assist to his name while creating one big chance for Sunderland and has kept eight clean sheets across 29 matches, and journalist Josh Bunting was impressed by the Englishman after one standout performance earlier this season.

He tweeted: "Anthony Patterson our best player tonight, he’s coming along really well. Some really nice saves throughout the game but he was commanding of his box most importantly. Was questioned at the start of the season if he could handle the step-up he absolutely can. Solid performance."

Judging by Patterson's performances, £10m sounds like it could represent a wonderful bargain for Lopetegui, who should be attempting to secure the player as soon as possible while having the heart to boldly ditch Sa in the process.