Jose Sa relishing Wolves goalkeeper competition

In an exclusive interview with the Express & Star, Sarkic spoke confidently about his determination to take the number one spot away from Sa, despite this season being his first as part of the Wolves first team.

But Sa is pleased to see his younger team-mate pushing him on and believes it will only help Wolves in the long run.

“I like the competition. Everybody likes competition and we have good goalkeepers,” Sa said.

“To lose John Ruddy was hard for us because he’s a good guy and a good team-mate. He helped us a lot and help me a lot to work and pushed me. Of course I was sad when I heard the news, but this is football and it can happen.

“It’s very good (working with Sarkic). He’s a young guy who works very well.

“He helps me, I help him. That’s what we think about it.”

Being a goalkeeper is a perilous position, particularly when only one player can occupy the position – and Sa’s career experiences means he knows how quickly you can lose your place. “It’s complicated because I’ve already been in second position, but it’s our life and our position,” he added.

“We have to work to win the place. Nobody has the place guaranteed, we have to work to show our good moments and help the team.”

Sa suffered a medial collateral ligament injury to his knee in the last game of the season against Liverpool and did not feature in pre-season until the draw with Sporting on Saturday.

He impressed during a solid 90-minute performance and now feels ready to tackle the new Premier League campaign.

“I’m very good,” Sa said. “They tried to protect me in the last games to be ready for this game and to be ready for the first game of the season, and it’s what happened.

“I played and I felt good. We keep working and we’ll see.

“It was lucky for me that it was in the last game of the season and not the first game of the season - that’s what I was thinking.

“It’s our work and it can happen. For me, I think I’m lucky because it was the last game.

“It was a good game against a very good team, but I think we played very well.

“We keep working and fighting to do our best and the results will come.

“We will continue to do our work and of course I will try to give my best and help the team.

“If I do better to help them, perfect, but I will work and after we will see.

“Game by game, that’s how I think and what I am working towards.”