Wolverhampton Wanderers didn’t do too much in the transfer market this summer, but a big change took place between the sticks.
Rui Patricio left the club after three seasons at Molineux.
The club did not come into the summer looking to sell, but received a good enough proposal from AS Roma.
He was the joint-highest earner at the club on £100,000-a-week, so Wolves are saving a bit of money there.
The man to replace him was Jose Sa, arriving for around £7 million from Olympiacos.
The 28-year-old has arrived and has had a fairly mixed start so far.
He looks to be very good with his feet and is fairly dominant in his area.
Whether he’s as good a shot-stopper as his predecessor remains to be seen – he could perhaps have done slightly better on Mason Greenwood’s goal the other day.
Foster has been speaking about every Premier League team’s business this summer on his popular YouTube channel, and believes the goalkeeper change by Wolves is a bold move.
He said (39:55): “Rui Patricio, I honestly think he’s been a fantastic goalkeeper for the last two or three years for Wolves. You just know what you’re going to get from him – he’s reliable.
“I think it’s a big loss that he’s gone to Roma. To replace him, Jose Sa, I think he’s got big boots to fill. It’s difficult to just go straight into a new league, new language, all that kind of stuff, and hit the ground running.”
Sa is yet to keep a clean sheet for Wolves since his move.
It’s been a 1-0 loss every time so far in the Premier League.
And he didn’t play against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup, with John Ruddy featuring instead.
Patricio hard to replace
Foster is right, really.
Patricio may not have had the best of seasons in 2020/21, but he was largely reliable.
He was especially good in his first two seasons.
Sa has shown some positive signs so far.
The biggest thing will be for him to be show consistency and reliability, something Patricio was well known for during his time in the Black Country.