Everton transfer news: Conor Coady reacts as Goodison exit back to Wolves is confirmed
Conor Coady posted that it had been a “pleasure” to play for Everton after his exit back to Wolves was confirmed by the club on Thursday (1 June).
The £4.5million option to sign the former Molineux captain was not picked up by the Toffees having fallen out of favour when Sean Dyche took over from Frank Lampard.
He leaves having made 25 Everton appearances this season, 24 of which came in the Premier League, although only two since the end of February.
Posting on his Instagram page after the club’s announcement the defender wrote: “It’s been a pleasure to play for you toffees .. Thank you. UTFT.”
Service
Under Lampard the permanent signing of Coady looked nailed on as he immediately formed a partnership with fellow new arrival James Tarkowski.
He even wore the captain’s armband for the 1-0 win over West Ham on 18 September to signify his importance during the early weeks of the season.
But as the club’s season collapsed into another scrap against the drop so did the 30-year-old’s involvement dry up once the change was made in the dug-out, with his demotion matching Abdoulaye Doucouré’s elevation.
As Yerry Mina has also left at the expiry of his contract there may have been some sense in exercising the clause to keep Coady at Goodison Park due to the cheap fee.
But he wasn’t a priority for Dyche who frequently preferred his former Burnley man Michael Keane, and it may be a signal that there will again be a tight transfer budget this summer if the manager didn’t feel it sensible to spend less than £5million on a back-up central defender.
Coady certainly played his part during his year back on Merseyside, but there is evidently plenty of work that needs to be done with this squad, and Dyche has already started making important decisions on who he wants to be involved.