Friday was a crazy day for us at Sport Witness as we tried to cover what was going on with Rui Patricio, Wolves and Sporting.
Each time everything seemed settled for the day, something new popped up and it was a soap opera befitting the general situation at the Portuguese club.
Here’s a brief recap of what happened:
- Portuguese newspaper Record published a big claim that Rui Patricio had yesterday been on the verge of a move to Wolves. A €18m fee was agreed, and it was claimed Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho then asked Wolves for an extra €2m and killed the deal.
- Patricio then sent a 34 page document to cancel his Sporting contract, citing ‘just cause’.
- Bruno held a press conference, blaming Jorge Mendes and saying Gestifute demanded a €3m payment (plus a further €4m from the deal which took Adrien Silva to Leicester City) to make the deal go through. He called Mendes’ actions a ‘crime’.
- Patricio’s cancellation letter was then leaked, and part of it detailed how the goalkeeper has feared for his life after recent events at Sporting.
- Gestifute denied Bruno’s claims and said Sporting had contacted them asking for help on the Patricio deal, and offering to pay off old debts.
Saturday’s edition of Record is packed with claims of other players who could also move to cancel their Sporting contracts. On Patricio and Wolves, it’s explained Bruno’s veto on the deal came after the goalkeeper had gone through his medical to join the club.
Record state the deal could still be ‘revived’ with them suggesting it could be done under the same conditions. That would require the footballer to withdraw his contract cancellation, which he has seven days to do, and for Bruno to agree to the terms of the deal as presented on Thursday night.
Should that not happen, and no other club come in, then it all goes to court and Sporting may not only lose their captain for nothing, but also be forced to pay him the rest of the wages due on his contract.
