Leicester City backed to complete Sunderland transfer - he's an 'upgrade' | OneFootball

The Foxes are reportedly interested in a loan swoop for Anthony Patterson

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Leicester City are currently enduring a rough patch of form under Marti Cifuentes at present, with the Foxes succumbing to three successive defeats.

After initially being amongst the Championship's early-season pace-setters, the Foxes have tailed off rather badly of late, with Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at the King Power Stadium seeing the East Midlands side fall into the bottom-half for the first time this season.

Cifuentes oversaw a major squad reshuffle throughout his maiden pre-season and transfer window after joining the club following relegation from the Premier League.

This meant many high-profile and experienced names left the Blues prior to his first competitive game in charge against Sheffield Wednesday back on August 10th, which included the likes of Jamie Vardy, Wilfred Ndidi, James Justin and Bilal El Khannouss.

Many changes were also made to the goalkeepers' union at the King Power too, with Mads Hermansen, Daniel Iversen and Danny Ward all departing the club.

The former of those was integral to Leicester's title-winning season under Enzo Maresca in 2023/24, and after being a beacon of light during an immediate relegation campaign, moved to West Ham United for £20m, albeit his start at the London Stadium has been rather underwhelming.

As such, the current trio of shot-stoppers at Cifuentes' disposal comes in the form of Jakub Stolarczyk, Asmir Begovic and Francisco Vieites, with the latter duo moving on free transfers amid financial uncertainty.

However, with the January transfer window now less than two months away, it is now being reported that Leicester are plotting a loan swoop for Sunderland goalkeeper, Anthony Patterson.

And, whilst it isn't at the top of Leicester's priorities, it's a deal which Football League World's Foxes fan pundit, Louchlainn Martin, backs the club to strike.

Patterson has risen through the Black Cats' ranks to relative prominence in recent seasons, becoming a mainstay in the first-team during the club's final season in League One under Alex Neil back in 2021/22.

Throughout his time at the Stadium of Light, several sides higher up the food chain than Sunderland were said to be monitoring his progression, showcasing the top-flight potential he can boast despite being known for a handful of mishaps.

Regardless of a campaign of mixed form, Patterson still kept a respectable tally of 14 clean sheets in 45 games across all competitions last term as Regis Le Bris' men returned to the Premier League for the first time since 2017.

Since then, though, the 25-year-old has been replaced by the impressive Robin Roefs as the Frenchman's number one, only making one competitive appearance in 2025/26 thus far.

It has now been claimed that the Foxes are leading fellow newly-relegated side Southampton in the race for Patterson's signature on a temporary basis, with Martin left rather satisfied with said news.

"I think I would back the signing of Anthony Patterson," he told FLW.

"We had a lot of faith that Jakub Stolarczyk would come in and be a good replacement for Mads Hermansen this year. He's a player that's been at the club a long time and waited for his opportunity.

"I don't think he's had a bad season. I just don't think he's the number-one goalkeeper you can rely on for promotion to the Premier League and, especially, in the Premier League," Martin explained.

"I would like to see us sign a number-one that is, heads and above, the best goalkeeper in the team.

"We, of course, signed two goalkeepers in the summer. Asmir Begovic, who I always think was to help the dressing room and coaching side of things, and we also signed Vieites, who we haven't seen or heard about since.

"I don't think they're any better than Stolarczyk, so it will be good to get another goalkeeper in whose good enough to gain promotion to the Premier League," he added.

"As I said, I don't think he's had a bad season. But, he's definitely made some errors, and it's an upgrade we do need to make.

"But, we do have other options that should be a priority. A striker, another left-back and maybe even a winger.

"Lots of room for upgrades in our team. Goalkeeper shouldn't be a priority, but we would take it."

Anthony Patterson would be a smart addition for Leicester City

As previously mentioned, Patterson has made a handful of high-profile errors in the past, but he now has a promotion on his CV which makes him an attractive option for clubs in Leicester's position.

Whilst Stolarczyk has had a mixed start to the campaign, it is clearly a department in need of surgery, as demonstrated with previous links to Manchester City shot-stopper, James Trafford.

However, the chances of luring Patterson back to the Championship would appear to be far greater than the ex-Burnley man, even for a short period of time, and one which makes greater financial sense, with the Sunderland man said to be earning an ESTIMATED figure of £20,000 per week.