Scout Reports

Scout Report – Rui Patricio

Wolverhampton Wanderers have completed their second signing of a player who features at this summer’s World Cup with the capture of goalkeeper Rui Patricio from Sporting Lisbon.

Mexico striker Raul Jimenez joined the club on a season-long loan from Benfica last week, but the signing of Patricio is the biggest coup to date for the West Midlands side.

The Portuguese international, who has 71 caps to his name at the time of writing, has joined Wolves on a four-year deal and would seem set to replace John Ruddy as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.

Napoli had also been linked with the wantaway Sporting custodian, who terminated his own contract with the Primeira Liga giants after a training ground attack by 50 of the club’s supporters.

Six of Patricio’s Sporting teammates did likewise, and while Wolves have thus been able to sign the 30-year-old goalkeeper on a free, there is still a reasonable chance that compensation will have to be agreed with the Lisbon club at a later date.

The History

A one-team man until his move to the Premier League, Patricio was signed at the age of 12 by Sporting and progressed through the club’s academy to the first-team squad.

Patricio made his senior debut in November 2006, aged just 18, saving a penalty and keeping a clean sheet in Sporting’s 1-0 away league win at Maritimo.

The 2007/08 campaign was Patricio’s breakthrough season at Sporting following erstwhile number one Ricardo’s departure to Real Betis: Patricio made 20 league appearances and his UEFA Champions League debut – while still a teenager – en route to his first major honour: the Taca de Portugal, Portugal’s main domestic knockout competition.

Patricio remained Sporting’s first choice for the next decade, starting at least 30 league matches in eight of those ten seasons and making a total of 93 appearances in European competition.

Named Sporting’s Footballer of the Year in 2011 and 2012, Patricio added another Taca de Portugal winners’ medal to his collection in 2014/15 and lifted the Taca de Liga (a competition contested by the teams playing in Portugal’s top two divisions) trophy in his final season in Lisbon. A league title win eluded Patricio during his 12 years with the first team, however.

Patricio left Sporting after 467 appearances for the first team in all competitions, a tally surpassed by only one other player in the club’s history.

After appearing for Portugal at every age group from the Under-16’s up, Patricio finally made his national team debut in November 2010 – two years after he had been an unused member of Portugal’s Euro 2008 squad.

Patricio soon toppled Eduardo as his country’s first-choice option between the posts and started the next four major tournaments – Euro 2012, the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup – as Portugal’s number one.

The European Championship win two years ago was arguably Patricio’s finest hour. Wolves’ new goalkeeper kept four clean sheets in the competition and was named in UEFA’s Team of the Tournament after a superb display in the final against France.

The Prospects

Beating other suitors to Patricio’s signature is a real achievement for Wolves and an indication of the clout they now have in the transfer market, with “super-agent” George Mendes pulling the strings behind the scenes.

The transfer is also an intriguing one for Fantasy managers and all eyes will be on the release of the Fantasy Premier League price list in July. We would perhaps expect a newly promoted side’s first-choice goalkeeper to cost £4.5m (as was the case with the three sides who came up from the Championship in 2016/17), but Patricio’s pedigree alone sets him apart from the other likely candidates in that price bracket.

Interest in the Portuguese goalkeeper is likely to be heightened given Wolves’ fairly kind opening run of fixtures in 2018/19: the two Manchester clubs are the only “Big Six” sides that Wanderers face in their opening ten matches, a sequence of fixtures that also includes home meetings with Everton, Burnley, Southampton and Watford.

Wolves’ defence was the joint-best in the Championship last season (39 goals conceded in 46 matches), with John Ruddy keeping a division-high 24 clean sheets in his 45 appearances for the West Midlands club.

Interestingly, Wolves kept as many clean sheets away from home as they did at Molineux and they were the only second-tier side to concede less than a goal a game on their travels (21 goals in 23 games).

Patricio, meanwhile, produced 17 clean sheets in 34 league appearances last season, conceding only 24 goals.

The Portuguese shot-stopper has recorded at least ten shut-outs in nine of his last ten seasons with Sporting and hasn’t conceded more than 36 league goals in a single campaign with the Lisbon club.

 

Rui Patricio – A Season-by-Season Analysis

PCSGC
07/0820520
08/09251413
09/10301226
10/11301031
11/12281324
12/1330736
13/14301520
14/15331129
15/16341819
16/17311234
17/18341724

P = Appearances
CS = Clean sheets
GC = Goals conceded

 

Patricio made more saves per match (2.4) than Ruddy (2.2) last season, but those averages reflect how relatively untroubled both goalkeepers were playing in sides towards the top end of their respective divisions: by way of comparison, Jack Butland averaged 4.1 saves per match playing for struggling Stoke City in the Premier League in 2017/18.

Continuing the comparisons between Wolves’ two senior custodians, Patricio saved 77.4% of shots he faced, compared with Ruddy’s total of 73.3%. Of the Premier League goalkeeepers who made more than three starts in 2017/18, only David de Gea (82.1%) had a better save percentage than Patricio.

Ruddy conceded a goal every 112.5 minutes, meanwhile, compared with Patricio’s average of one every 127.5 minutes. The Portuguese international’s mean trumped even de Gea in this regard: the Manchester United goalkeeper shipped a league goal every 118.9 minutes.

Last season, promoted goalkeepers were an excellent source of FPL value in terms of points per million. Both Mat Ryan (31.7) of Brighton and Hove Albion and Jonas Lossl (29.3) of Huddersfield Town were among the top five players for this statistic.

Lossl, Ryan and new West Ham signing Lukasz Fabianski – who had starting prices of £4.5m – all finished in the top five of goalkeepers with the highest total score, underscoring the value that budget shot-stoppers can potentially offer.

With defender Barry Douglas as the obvious route into the Wanderers backline, Patricio’s FPL ownership might be relatively low as Fantasy managers stay clear of a Wolves defensive “double-up”: the Scottish international scored five goals and registered 14 assists from the wing-back position in 2017/18.

However, Patricio’s status as a world-class shot-stopper – highlighted in his performance in Portugal’s 1-0 win over Iran earlier today – means he is a strong budget goalkeeping option to consider for next season.

551 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Dušan Citizen
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Should have sticked with Salah C 🙁 Cavani let me down.

    Today I only have Dalsgaard, and then Coutinho, Lukaku and Lingard for alternatives.

    1. Siva Mohan
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      nothing to worry.. Lukaku to the rescue

      1. Dušan Citizen
        • 10 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Hope so. But Tunisia are that bad. Also read some critics toward Lukaku by Hazard saying he didn't participate the game in 1st half.

        1. GreennRed
          • 12 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          Lukaku is grand if he gets a sitter or Belgium have scored already and could then do serious damage. I wouldn't put a lot on him making a breakthrough or scoring a late winner.

    2. GoonerByron
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Suarez didn't let me down but I've still moved the (c).. I think you'll be fine with Coutinho/Lukaku.

  2. Jebiga
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Should i keep Suarez C or swich for the next players: Eriksen, Mueller, Coutinho, Lukaku ?

    1. SW6
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Are you really happy with 6 points from your captain

      1. Jebiga
        • 11 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        nope, 10 is minimum, but as you sow 2nd round is very tough...no goals...

        1. SW6
          • 11 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          Personally, I think it's a complete no-brainer to switch.

    2. boc610
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      1 goal is not enough to stick imo...eriksen v Australia. Do it!

    3. GoonerByron
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      As above, I've moved it from Suarez and my next players are similar to you.. Eriksen, Layun, Coutinho, Kane

  3. Christina.
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    This Uruquay team is weak. Very.

    Suarez was lucky the ball hit his leg. They will be exposed soon enough.

    1. GoonerByron
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Agree. So poor yesterday.

      Bad move from me to double up on Suarez + Cavani!

      1. Christina.
        • 14 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        I sold Cavani after Rd 1(where he should have had 2 gls) and doubled up on Godin+Varela.

        Very disappointed my first differential(Silva) did not get anything last night. He was so much better than Costa who got gifted a goal.

    2. Siva Mohan
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      their mids are awful.. don't hold or pass the ball well

      easy peasy knock our game for Spain/Portugal

      1. Siva Mohan
        • 11 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        *out

      2. Christina.
        • 14 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Valera is worse than Moreno at Liverpool and Godin looks like he is 45 yrs old.

        1. Siva Mohan
          • 11 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          Godin never retires!

    3. Eden Wizard
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      If I WC to catch price rises i'll dump Cavani > CR7/Costa

      1. RyanC
        • 9 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Prices aren’t changing before the last 16.

        1. Eden Wizard
          • 5 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          Prices change before the R16. I assume no transfers in GW3>R16 therefore, now is the last chance to makes transfers which catch rises.

          1. Eden Wizard
            • 5 Years
            5 years, 9 months ago

            To clarify, I mean no transfers GW3>R16 before price rises and consequently, unlimited transfers.

    4. white lightning
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      I'm still waiting for my Gimenez goal assist points but they gave them to Sanchez haha.

  4. boc610
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Suarez said that going for regular crust rather than stuffed is what gave him the edge against the Saudi's

    1. Siva Mohan
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Dominos or Pizza Hut?

    2. Eden Wizard
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      BBQ Stuffed is the one.

  5. Eden Wizard
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Anyone who WC'd after week 1 feel like topping themselves yet>?
    [I suspect all of you]

    1. SW6
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Nah it's going pretty well so far

    2. Essan
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      No, quite happy with my team so far - and up to 2,701 in the world 🙂

      1. Eden Wizard
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Good work! I'm confused and I've still got WC 😆

    3. ludaslol
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      BB first week then WC,

      @68 overall and first in my country..

      Having fun so far atleast

      1. ludaslol
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Only 4 players left for this week tho

        1. Christina.
          • 14 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          have you banked a (c) yet?

          1. ludaslol
            • 6 Years
            5 years, 9 months ago

            Suarez, but twisting for Cueva/kaku/Cout

            Sadly no ML for the official game, so doesnt have to much to lose

            1. Christina.
              • 14 Years
              5 years, 9 months ago

              68th is amazing. GL

              1. ludaslol
                • 6 Years
                5 years, 9 months ago

                Yeah feels good, Thanks man you too

                1. Eden Wizard
                  • 5 Years
                  5 years, 9 months ago

                  Thanks woman*

                  Doesn't have the same ring to it 😆 EQUALITY

      2. Eden Wizard
        • 5 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Epic! Hope it comes off for you

        1. ludaslol
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          Thanks, GL to you

    4. GoonerByron
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Reasonably happy with who's played so far.. Bought Suarez, Varela, Isco in who I didn't have before.. Took out Saudi Keeper and Nandez who were both benched..

    5. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
      • 14 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Yer. Just preparing the noose. Just waiting for Messi and Erikssen who I took out to kick the chair

  6. Messiah Hazard
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Stick with Ronaldo captain or shift to Griezmann?

    1. Chucky
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      shift

  7. Darzinho
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Suarez was my captain after switching from Cheryshev (7:14 points down to 6:12). Would you stick with that or gamble again with Mbappe/Paulinho/Danilo/Kimmich/Meunier?

    1. GoonerByron
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Twist.. At worst I think one of those will at least match Suarez

      1. Darzinho
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        As you're a Gooner, I'll take your advice! 🙂

  8. Chucky
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Capo Griezzy or Leo? Have it on Godin at the moment.... 🙂

    1. SW6
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Messi

      1. Klopptomist Scott Jelly
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Haha

    2. Klopptomist Scott Jelly
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      I'd probably go Griez, wouldn't be that surprised to see Croatia run Arg over.

      1. SW6
        • 11 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        I reckon there is more chance of Peru causing an upset than Croatia. They looked utter kak vs an even more kak Nigeria in the 1st round

        1. Klopptomist Scott Jelly
          • 6 Years
          5 years, 9 months ago

          Fair enough! 🙂

    3. Chucky
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      cheers all

  9. Eden Wizard
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    WC now guarantees you catch rises from those performing in 1 & 2 but a lot can change in wk 3 right? I think it's glaringly obvious who will rise (so far) and, £5ml extra divided across 15 players is 0.3ml so that suggests most qualifiers will rise [15 players comprising of qualifiers only]

  10. RUUD!
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Who is most likely to keep a clean sheet.

    Schmeichel or Ochoa

    1. boc610
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Kasper

    2. GoonerByron
      • 12 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Both very likely imo

  11. boc610
    • 12 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Danny Murphy telling Alex Scott she made a great point every 2 mins on motd last night ...he's clearly bricking it.

  12. Lone_Wolf
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Lukaku> Salah for GW 3 ?

    1. DD
      • 11 Years
      5 years, 9 months ago

      Dont see the upside with Egypt having nothing to play for and the Belgians will want to top their group

      1. Lone_Wolf
        • 8 Years
        5 years, 9 months ago

        Thnks for ur advise

  13. Duck Dickworth
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    How many teams is registered for FIFA fantasy?

  14. SW6
    • 11 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    If you have a captain who has scored 6 points (Suarez, Ronaldo, Costa etc) you are only really risking 4 points by changing and chasing a higher score!

    Every one of you should change, especially if you have two or more of Lukaku/Kane/Coutinho/Eriksen/James/Griezmann

  15. Taegugk Warrior
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 9 months ago

    Wildcard for Round 3 or before Quarter Final..?
    Not satisfied with the existed team, but also Considering degraded from 16 Team to 8 Team at the Quarter Final.