Southampton must beat QPR to finalise Sunderland transfer to fix lingering problem | OneFootball

Southampton could steal a march on QPR to sign an experienced Championship goalkeeper who could resolve one long-standing issue at St Mary's.

Southampton could steal a march on their Championship rivals by securing the services of an experienced goalkeeper who hasn't been able to break through in the Premier League this season.

A chastening 4-0 loss at Middlesbrough on the first weekend of the new year has served as a reminder that there could be a lot of work to be done at Southampton over the January transfer window. The defeat marked their sixth successive Championship game without a win, leaving them in a lowly mid-table position.

One of the areas in which the Saints need to tighten up is defensively, and the potential availability of the Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson could be a move that would benefit them very much indeed.

But Southampton aren't alone in their pursuit of Patterson. Other clubs in the Championship are also in the hunt for Patterson, and that isn't surprising, given his experience in this division and the success he enjoyed last season with Sunderland.

Patterson was a regular in the first eleven for the Black Cats while they were a Championship club, but lost his place as their first choice goalkeeper following an extended squad rebuild in preparation for their return to the Premier League during the summer. And his arrival at St Mary's could resolve an issue which has been ongoing at Southampton for a while.

Anthony Patterson could leave Sunderland in January, but there's one catch

Journalist Alan Nixon recently reported that Sunderland could be open to letting Patterson leave in the January transfer window, saying that, "Patterson has been squeezed out of the side and needs first team action", and that, "the Black Cats have pencilled in a return to the Stadium of Light in January" of under-21 goalkeeper Matty Young from League Two Salford City, "should Patterson find a temporary home".

Southampton won't be alone in this chase. The interest of Leicester City has been reported for some time, but Nixon also reported on the 28th December that Queens Park Rangers were also interested in him, which could cause issues in turn for QPR's Paul Nardi.

But even allowing for Championship rivals, prising him from the Stadium of Light might not necessarily be straightforward. Despite Nixon's report regarding Matty Young, the Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris has since commented on his club's stance over Patterson's immediate future, saying that his club will need a replacement at the same level as Patterson before they let him leave on loan: "If tomorrow we have an opportunity and he wants to leave, then we have a condition in front of this option: We need to find someone else at the level. It's not always easy to do that."

Having said that, though, Le Bris went on to add that: "They have their ambition and this ambition is often connected with the game time. Because if you want to enjoy your career, you have to be on the pitch," all of which renders the possibility of Patterson going on loan to the Championship this month still very much a possibility.

The arrival of Anthony Patterson could help the Saints to resolve their goalkeeping conundrum

He might only be a stop-gap solution for Southampton, but the arrival of Anthony Patterson at St Mary's could provide an answer to a question that Southampton fans have been asking for several years.

The Saints paid Manchester City £12 million for Gavin Bazunu in 2022, but his time with the club hasn't been without significant hitches. An achilles tendon injury kept him out of the Saints team from April 2024. When he returned to action, he was sent out on loan to the Belgian club Standard Liege, only for a knee injury to curtail his time in the Jupiler League.

But Bazunu has caused debate among Saints fans in the Championship this season too. He's only kept one clean sheet in his last ten appearances for them, and his FotMob score of 3.2 for his performance at Middlesbrough was, to put things extremely mildly, worrying.

And there can be little doubting that Patterson has what it takes to step in and offer the Saints a little more defensively solidity throughout the second half of this season. Patterson was the Black Cats first-choice goalkeeper for three full seasons prior to their promotion to the Premier League, and since then he's largely been a victim of circumstance. Displaced in the first-team by new arrival Robin Roefs, he's only made one appearance for them this season, in their penalty shoot-out defeat to Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup in August.

The addition of Queens Park Rangers to this mix adds a little extra spice. Paul Nardi was their first choice in 2024-25 and has been in goal for the majority of their 2025-26 season so far, but he was first dropped for their trip to Sheffield United in November, and has lost his place to Hamer again in recent weeks. With Joe Walsh injured and Hamer now 38-years-old, QPR need goalkeeping backup.

But parachute payments offer the Saints a crucial advantage. They should be able to financially out-muscle QPR, should finances be any part of either Patterson or Sunderland's thinking over loaning the player out. And given the issues that Bazunu has had with consistency, it's a chance that Southampton should try to seize.

Bazunu has been unlucky with injuries since signing for Southampton. But some of his performances this season have given Saints fans cause for concern that he's not the custodian they need if they're to reignite their season, and with talk of Tonda Eckert being under pressure already having started as a result of his team's recent dip in form, it could be that the goalkeeping position is one that they have to resolve before the end of the January transfer window.