Everton have confirmed this morning that they are not triggering their option to buy Conor Coady, and that the player will return to Wolves.
The 30-year-old spent the 2022/23 season on loan at Goodison Park, after he fell out of favour at Molineux.
Coady became the victim of a system change at Wolves.
Former manager Bruno Lage did away with the back three/wing-backs formation that had served Wolves so well, and started playing with a flat back four.
Coady was benched for the first two Premier League games of 2022/23, and the player then departed for Everton.
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The move in itself was no huge surprise. But the fact it was a loan did raise some eyebrows. Wolves could potentially have sold Coady for a fair amount of money, given his stock was quite high at the time.
It then emerged that Everton had negotiated a buy of option of £4.5 million.
It has today been announced by Everton that they are not activating the clause.
Coady will now come back to Molineux, and talks will be held about the next step for him.
In recent days, it has been claimed that Sheffield United are interested in the star.
Luton Town have also just come up from the Championship and will certainly be looking to strengthen. They are managed by former Wolves player Rob Edwards, who might fancy bringing Coady to Kenilworth Road.
Julen Lopetegui was recently asked about Coady, but gave absolutely nothing away. He said (via Mirror deputy editor Alex Richards): “He’s an Everton player. I have big respect for the opponent, this player is at Everton for now & we’re going to play them. So of course I’m not going to add anything more.”
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So Everton have decided against buying Coady for £4.5 million, and it’s a decision that has split Toffees fans.
While Coady has not had the best of seasons, it’s still quite surprising that they haven’t triggered that option.
Ultimately, Coady has a huge amount of Premier League experience and is obviously an amazing leader if nothing else.
He did show earlier in the season that he was capable of playing a back four. But he does lack consistency with it.
The player posted on Instagram shortly after the news today, writing ‘It’s been a pleasure to play for you Toffees .. Thank you UTFT’.
We will now see what happens. Lopetegui may want to take a look at him and see if he can play in a back four at Wolves.
Coady will want to be a regular. The fact he lost his starting berth was why he left, so if he does not get that assurance from Lopetegui then he will surely be off.
Wolves will be OK without him. Thankfully, the dressing room now has several new leaders such as Craig Dawson, Mario Lemina and Dan Bentley.