Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patrício has starred in one of the most comic stories of the transfer window so far.
Heavily linked to Napoli, and to a lesser extent Wolves, the goalkeeper had been expected to move to Italy very soon, especially after the attacks made at Sporting last week.
So when he was spotted at Lisbon airport yesterday morning, the local media started speculating he would be travelling to have his medicals in Italy. Some people even claimed to have seen him at the Serie A club.
But it turned out that Patrício never took a plane to Napoli. Hours later, he posted a picture in a spiritual retreat in Germany, where he’s spending a few days before the World Cup.
Newspaper A Bola covers it today, claiming that despite the agreement the player already has to join Napoli, local rivals Juventus are also attentive to the situation.
Interestingly, Wolves are now forgotten in all the Rui Patrício stories, despite having been heavily linked to the goalkeeper earlier this month.
Have Wolves pulled out of the race, or were those rumours just smoke? It’s strange to see the interest vanishing so quickly.
