Reported Wolves target Ugurcan Cakir’s stats are better than Rui Patricio’s

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Could Rui Patricio’s place as Wolverhampton Wanderers’s first-choice Premier League goalkeeper be about to come under threat?

Rui Patricio has conceded eight goals in his last two Premier League games, as many as he let in during Wolverhampton Wanderers’ previous nine fixtures in the competition.

And while no one is pointing the finger of blame squarely in his direction after a worrying start to the 2019/20 campaign, the Portuguese international certainly won’t look back over the last few weeks with any degree of fondness.

Now, it would be unfair, and wholly inaccurate, to suggest that Patricio is in danger of losing his place as one of the first names on Wolves’ team sheet any time soon. But claims that a new goalkeeper could be on his way to Molineux in January should give the former Sporting Lisbon skipper an extra incentive to get back to his impenetrable best sooner rather than later.

According to Ajansspor, Wolves are sending scouts to Turkey to check out the highly-rated Ugurcan Cakir, who is pulling off heroics between the sticks on a weekly basis.

Cakir, now a fully fledged Turkish international, pulled off a quite remarkable eight saves during a 1-1 draw with Fenerbahce before the international break. And Trabzonspor are only gearing up for a Europa League clash with Getafe on Thursday night because of Cakir’s influential display during a hard-fought August qualifier against AEK Athens.

In fact, while Patricio has conceded an average of two goals a game in the Premier League so far in 2019/20, Cakir has been breached just 1.25 times per 90 minutes. Cakir is also making 4.8 saves per game, compared to 1.8 for Patricio (WhoScored).

And he was in inspired form again despite Trabzonspor’s narrow defeat to Getafe in the Europa League opener on Thursday. It it wasn’t for his five saves, the Spaniards would have won by far more than a single goal.

That’s not to say Cakir is a better goalkeeper than a man who has 83 Portugal caps to his name. But the young Turk will have Patricio glancing over his shoulder should he become the latest new addition to Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad.