Sporting CP Chief Holding Firm Over Demands Following Rui Patricio's Shock Wolves Transfer

Newly promoted Wolves pulled off the shock transfer coup of the summer so far when they managed to lure long-serving Portugal international goalkeeper Rui Patricio to Molineux from Sporting CP.

Though still on international duty at the World Cup in Russia with Portugal at the time, Patricio completed a move from Lisbon to the West Midlands, much to the surprise of all of European football.

The free transfer was seemingly completed after Patricio had his contract with Sporting terminated, following the heavily reported on training ground incident which has sparked turmoil for the Portuguese club this summer. As reported by Portuguese outlet Record, however, the parameters of the deal are still being worked on.

It is said that Wolves had initially agreed to part with €18m for the services of Patricio, before the escalation of events at Sporting saw Patricio have his contract terminated, which enabled the goalkeeper to make the move on a free.

However, Sporting are said to be still expecting to receive the fee which had previously been agreed upon, despite the effective cancellation of Patricio’s contract with the club prior to his move.

Sporting chief Jose Sousa Cintra is quoted by Record as saying: “We are trying to solve this and I hope it will be solved.

“Patricio is a fantastic player, one of the best in the world, he wanted to leave and it is not worth going back. We are going to get what we agreed to receive, let’s close it and this shows that the clubs respect Sporting.”

Portugal have now exited the competition at the hands of Uruguay at the last 16 stage, meaning that Patricio’s next move is to link up with his new teammates at Wolves.

Though the finer details are apparently still unresolved, the signing of Patricio is a tremendous statement of intent from Wolves upon their return to the Premier League.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have also recently handed star midfielder Ruben Neves a new contract at Molineux following a stunning campaign at the heart of Wolves’ promotion-winning campaign in the Championship.