Everton managerial favourite Rafael Benitez has given the club the ‘green light’ to launch a move for Wolverhampton Wanderers skipper Conor Coady, according to Football Insider.
The lowdown
Coady came through the youth set-up at Everton’s local rivals Liverpool, making two senior appearances before a move to Huddersfield Town.
From there, he was snapped up by Wolves in 2015 for a fee of £2.5million.
He’s gone on to make 275 appearances for the club and started all but one of their Premier League matches in 2020/21.
Coady only signed a contract extension at Molineux last September, committing to the club until 2025.
The 28-year-old is valued at £22.5million by Transfermarkt.
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The latest
Football Insider’s Toffees source states that a move for Coady was proposed in earlier talks with former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo and discussed again with Benitez.
The Spaniard offered his approval, paving the way for an Everton bid to bring yet another former Red to the Blue side.
Wolves apparently need to sell ‘some of their star men’ in order to raise funds for ‘major summer purchases’, and so they could be open to offers for Coady.
The verdict
Signing Coady could only be considered sensible if the fee was around £15million and if the new manager intends to play a back three.
Coady has thrived in that system at Wolves but, equally, has looked uncomfortable when deployed in a back four.
Everton do need a centre-back in this window, but fans may justifiably wish to see the club aim a fair bit higher than a man who ranked as the 13th-best player in a team who finished below the Toffees this season.
In other news, fans were left fuming after this James Rodriguez update.
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