Sporting Lisbon have told Arsenal that they will have to pay somewhere in the region of $20 million for the services of their goalkeeper Rui Patricio, according to The Express.
One of Arsenal’s weakest areas this season has been in goal, with Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski both failing to convince Arsene Wenger that they are the long-term solution between the sticks.
While their main rivals in the Premier League have ‘keepers like Joe Hart, Pepe Reina, Petr Cech, Hugo Lloris and David De Gea, Szczesny and Fabianski simply aren’t on their level, and they have struggled to fill the void left by Jens Lehmann since the ‘Invincibles’ era of the mid 00s.
Portugal’s goalkeeper Rui Patricio takes part in a training session at Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv on March 21, 2013 in preparation for the upcoming 2014 World Cup qualifying football matches against Israel. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
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Patricio is arguably Portugal’s first-choice ‘keeper right now, and the 25-year-old is regarded as one of the most talented young players in his position in European soccer.
Portuguese newspaper A Bola claims the fee that Lisbon have slapped on Patricio is $20m/£13m, and only then will the club listen to offers for their player.
Another ‘keeper who has been linked with a move to The Emirates is the Hamburger SV and Germany international Rene Adler, who is thought to be available at a much cheaper price than the Portuguese star. Despite this, Wenger has set his sights on Patricio as his future number one, seeing it as a key area to improve as they look to make a title push next season.
Patricio has spent his entire career at Sporting Lisbon, playing 242 games thus far between his debut in 2006 and the present day.