EPL Transfer Spotlight: Wolves’ Jose Sa

On July 13, Jose Mourinho and Italy’s AS Roma sealed the deal to bring in Wolves’ keeper Rui Patricio for €11.50m. In parallel, Wolves negotiated a deal to bring in Olympiacos keeper Jose Sa for €8.00m on July 15 to coincide with Bruno Lage’s tenure. Sa is so far the second highest value player whom Wolves have bought after buying left-back Rayan Nouri for €11.10m from French outfit Angers.

Who is Jose Sa?

FPL managers may not be familiar with the Portuguese shot stopper since he spent his 10 year professional career among three clubs in Portugal and Greece, but UCL fantasy managers should remember him as the cheapest starting keeper in last year’s UCL game.

He has recorded nine appearances in the UEFA Champions League; five in 2017-18 with Porto and four last season with Olympiacos. His international career has been limited to Portugal’s U20 and U21 squads. He was the first choice goalkeeper in the 2015 European U21 Championship, keeping clean sheets in all matches but one. Portugal finished in second place on penalty shootout after a goalless draw.

The goalkeeper has impressively quick reactions to close-range attempts plus a strong tactical awareness to position himself at the right place at the right time. The only concern is his difficulty with redirecting shots taken from distance. Most of his saves return to play, so the main focus for the Wolves’ coaching staff will be on training him to direct those parries sideways.

Fantasy Prospects

Sa is priced at £5.0, which will probably turn off most of FPL managers, at least in the preseason. He is new to the English Premier League, and thirteen domestic league clean sheets in 23 appearances for the top Greek club last season is not enough data to predict fantasy value in a mid-table EPL side, especially one with a brand new manager who is also new to the Prem.

Until Sa and his manager establish their Premier League bona fides, there are better values to be found at his price point (and even below it).

~

~

Are you backing Jose Sa to payoff early in his Wolves career? Or do you think he’ll take a while to fit in? Have you drafted him on any of your fantasy sides yet? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

~