Leicester City are lining up a ‘formal offer’ for Anthony Patterson with the Sunderland goalkeeper potentially set for a Premier League switch, according to the Northern Echo.
In truth, the Foxes have never really replaced Kasper Schmeichel.
Danny Ward may have bounced back, to some extent, from a disastrous start to the season but the Welshman lacks his predecessor’s elite-level shot-stopping and hurricane-like personality.
And with back-up Daniel Iversen perhaps lacking the distribution to become a Brendan Rodgers’ number one – he didn’t exactly cover himself in glory during that FA Cup defeat to Blackburn Rovers either – a long-term Schmeichel replacement is likely to be right at the top of Leicester’s to-do list this summer.
Can Anthony Patterson be Leicester City’s new goalkeeper?
The Foxes are reportedly ‘preparing a formal offer’ for 22-year-old Patterson.
One of the most talented young glovesmen in the whole of the EFL, North Shields-born Patterson continues to go from strength-to-strength at Sunderland. So much so that, according to The Sun, he is under consideration for a maiden call-up for Gareth Southgate’s England side ahead of the March internationals.
“He dominates his box. He makes crucial saves. He’s just a nice kid. A nice big, 6f 4ins kid who hardly talks. But he is brilliant at what he does,” Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray says.
“We all love him. How far can he go? The phone dictates that; if people in the Premier League are watching him or England are watching him, or whatever it would be. We’ll wait and see.”
Patterson has saved three of the four penalties he has saved this season for promotion-chasing Sunderland. He is reportedly valued at around £10 million (The Sun).
Wolves are also interested. Patterson, if he does leave Sunderland, may prefer Leicester over Wolves. Ousting Ward looks an easier task than knocking Jose Sa out of Julen Lopetegui’s XI.
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