Wolves could make fresh bid for Sporting Lisbon's Rui Patricio

The 30-year-old shot-stopper has been at the centre of a tussle between his agency Gestifute – headed up by Jorge Mendes – and current club Sporting Lisbon.

And that has led to Patricio handing in his resignation to Sporting as he tries to force a move away.

In a series of claims and counter-claims between Gestifute and Sporting, the agency was accused of ‘blackmail’ – something it vehemently denies.

Gestifute said Patricio was set to sign for ‘an English club’ – believed to be Wolves – for £15.8million, but the deal fell through at the last minute.

The agency claimed everything had been agreed and a medical had taken place – authorised by Sporting bosses – when the move collapsed because Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho asked for an extra £1.75m.

However, Sporting claim the fault lies with Mendes’s agency.

The 18-times Portuguese champions accused Gestifute of demanding more than £6m to cover costs around player contracts in order to push through the deal.

A Sporting statement – which also accused Gestifute of ‘circus performances’ – read: “Enough of so many lies and manipulations! Did they ask for those 7 million (Euros) or not?”

Patricio is currently away with the Portugal squad preparing for this summer’s World Cup, but he is keen not to return to Lisbon.

The goalkeeper and his team-mates were targeted by around 50 masked thugs at their training ground earlier this year after missing out on a place in next season’s Champions League, striker Bas Dost suffering cuts to his head in the attack. Patricio made an error in Sporting’s final league match of the season – a 2-1 defeat to Maritimo – as they missed out on second place to Benfica, another possible destination for the goalkeeper according to Sporting board member Elsa Judas.

Since making his debut in 2006, Patricio has played 327 times for Sporting.