Opinion: Sunderland star should keep his head down amid Leicester City and Wolves transfer interest | OneFootball

Whenever a player is performing well in the Championship, naturally, they tend to draw eyes from the Premier League.

That is currently the case with Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, who has reportedly caught the eye of two top flight clubs with his performances for the Black Cats this season.

That is according to Alan Nixon via Patreon, at least, who reports that both Leicester City and Wolves have made the 22-year-old a ‘major’ transfer target this summer.

The above report claims that Wolves see Patterson as the ‘ideal signing’ to come in and compete with their current number one goalkeeper – Portuguese international Jose Sa.

Meanwhile, Leicester are reportedly looking for an emerging goalkeeper to take their number one spot, with Danny Ward currently the man between the sticks.

Nixon has floated a £10 million fee for the shot-stopper this summer.

However, despite that Premier League interest, Patterson should currently keep his head down and focus on Sunderland for now.

I say that for a multitude of reasons, the first of which being Sunderland are currently a club on the up.

Upon their return to the Championship this season, the Black Cats are well in the hunt for a play-off place and even if they do not make it this year, in the next year or two, there seems a good chance, given the size of the club, that Sunderland can compete for promotion.

Rather than moving to the Premier League now, given his age, Patterson can afford to be patient for a year or two and then hopefully make the jump up to the top flight with his boyhood club.

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Furthermore, I do not think that currently, a move to either Wolves or Leicester would be right for Patterson.

As per the report, Patterson would be joining Wolves as a backup to Sa, with the view to eventually replacing him.

In my opinion, this would be a mistake. At 22, he is playing week in week out at a high level, so why now swap that for a number two role in which he is likely to be limited to just cup appearances?

If he was heading there to be number one, my view may be different, but as it is reported, the move to Molineux would be a bizarre one.

Although Patterson has the ability to overcome the opposition there for the number one shirt in Ward, the Foxes currently find themselves in a relegation scrap at present and there is no guarantee that they will be in the top flight next season.

It goes without saying that were they to be relegated, making the swap from Sunderland to the King Power Stadium would make little to no sense.

Indeed, then, amid this Premier League interest, for the reasons outlined above, Patterson should keep his head down for now.

At 22, he has plenty of time on his side to make a top flight move and in my opinion, can afford to be patient to see if he can make that leap with Sunderland in the next year or two, all the while gaining more and more experience that will help him be a success when he does make that leap.