Former England and Liverpool centre back Jamie Carragher has praised the Wolves skipper by saying he as good as anyone in defence in terms of passing from the back.
Coady, who came through the academy at Liverpool before leaving the club for £500k to join Huddersfield, has grown into becoming one of Wolves’ most important players – something which is no mean feat considering that they are currently one game away from the Europa League quarter-final and two places off the Champions League places.
Wolves bought Coady back in 2015 for a fee of around £2.52m, according to Transfermarkt.
Since then, he has gone on to help the club be promoted, as well as captain the side that genuinely looks as if it has a chance of breaking the top six dominance.
Carragher spoke to Sky Sports about the player, saying that he thinks, in terms of passing, he is as good as anyone – including Virgil van Dijk.
He said (via TEAMtalk): “Conor Coady has also done brilliantly for Wolves; he has not missed a minute this season and is probably as good as anyone alongside Van Dijk in terms of passing from the back.”
Given that Liverpool let him go for just £500k, they may well be regretting that decision, as he has gone onto become one of the most consistent defenders in the league, and hasn’t missed a single minute all season in the league.
While Coady has had a fantastic season, comparing him to Virgil van Dijk might be a step too far, but you can see where he is coming from in terms of passing.
In the Premier League, Van Dijk averages 85.4 passes per game at a success rate of 89.2 per cent, as well as averaging 0.2 key passes per game. Coady’s isn’t quite as impressive, though it should be said that Wolves have a different style to what Jurgen Klopp’s side do.
Coady averages 47.1 passes per game at a success rate of 84.7, while also having 0.2 key passes per game.
Coady’s passing stats aren’t as impressive on that basis, however, he has quite a unique role at Wolves with his passing, often spraying long balls out to the wingers or wing-backs, which will naturally damage his passing success rate. Coady averages seven long balls per game, while Van Dijk averages 5.3, so even with Van Dijk’s stats looking slightly better, it should be considered that Coady is often playing more ambitious balls.
Based on this, it is hard to disagree with Carragher, with there not being many other defenders showing the same passing ability as these two.
