Jamie O’Hara hails ‘unbelievable’ Conor Coady transfer, Everton will be buzzing
Frank Lampard will be “buzzing” that Everton were able to pounce on Wolves’ biggest mistake of the summer by signing Conor Coady, says Jamie O’Hara.
The Toffees completed a season-long loan deal to sign Coady in the summer, and the England international has been among the best performers in the Premier League so far this season.
After Wolves boss Bruno Lage was sacked on Sunday O’Hara told Sky Sports that despite spending £100m and getting just one win so far this season, it was letting Coady go that was the Portuguese boss’ biggest mistake.
“On who? On who though, because you’ve got Diego Costa coming in on a free,” he said. “That says to me they haven’t invested hat £100m very well.
“You’ve brought in a striker and unlucky for Bruno Lage he gets injured. That’s a massive problem. You sign someone and think, ‘right now we’ve got someone who can score goals for us,’ and he gets injured straight away.
“So you say they’ve spent £100m, but they got rid of Coady. Now for me, getting rid of Conor Coady is the biggest mistake Wolves have made.
“Whether he’s playing or not he is a player you have to have in your dressing room. He is an unbelievable character. Frank Lampard must be absolutely buzzing that he’s been able to get him away from Wolves and have him in his side.
“And as soon as I saw that happen, I thought ‘oh something’s not right there’, if you’re letting go of your captain and one of your leaders then there’s issues in the camp.
“That might be what the problem is. Conor Coady for me it was a big mistake letting him go, he’s a fantastic player.”
Trash or treasure
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure is how the old saying goes, and that’s been exactly the case with Coady, Wolves and Everton.
It was seen as an odd move by the Midlands side to let him leave so willingly in the summer after another influential campaign by him, but the manager had seemingly earned trust from the board and fans.
But Everton pounced and brought him in to strengthen their own defence, and in the process weaken a rival, and are now bearing the fruit of that blossoming partnership with James Tarkowski.
With the best defensive record in the league so far this season, already becoming a fan favourite and even wearing the armband for the club, it’s been a picture perfect deal so far and there is no chance of it ending early either.
Everton can be thankful the board and manager acted quickly to get it done, and if it continues in this vein then they’ll be celebrating come the end of the season too.