Wolves have made a number of big deals this summer, but one name could have made even more money than him.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have had a testing time of late, having four managers take charge of the squad over the past year, as well as combating financial restrictions.
The Old Gold were hit with a host of Financial Fair Play (FFP) issues earlier in the summer, making it increasingly difficult for former manager Julen Lopetegui to make the signings needed to bolster his squad.
As a result, the Spaniard parted ways with the club, making way for new boss Gary O’Neil to take charge, with the Englishman facing an uphill battle to get the depleted squad performing this campaign.
Despite such restrictions, Wolves welcomed six new faces to Molineux, as well as Matheus Cunha and Boubacar Traore officially making their moves permanent.
Sales played a big part in the moves that the Midlands club could make in the market, with one player going for a price far lower than what could have been previously anticipated.
With reference to FFP rulings, it was imperative that Wolves generated finances through sales this summer, which they did by offloading some star names.
Former club captain Ruben Neves departed to Al-Hilal for £47m, as well as two internal Premier League moves making much-needed cash, as Nathan Collins transferred to Brentford for £23m, and Matheus Nunes opted for Manchester City in a huge £53m transaction.
Other players departed for lesser fees and as free agents, with another former club captain bidding farewell in the form of Conor Coady.
After an eight-year association with Wolves, Coady was sold to Leicester City in the summer for a fee of £7.5m.
The Englishman was a firm member of the squad at Molineux before his loan move to Everton last season after falling out of favour with former manager Bruno Lage, who didn’t see the 30-year-old fitting into his formation plans.
With 317 appearances for the Midlands side under his belt, Coady left for the Championship after falling down the pecking order at Goodison too after their respective managerial change.
At one point in his Wolves career, it was difficult to imagine proceedings at Molineux without the Liverpool-born whiz, who was club captain and a strong character and presence to have in the back line.
Described as an “authoritative” figure by journalist Tim Spiers, the centre-back was valued by Football Transfers around the £38m mark back in 2021, telling of his downfall under Lage.
There are constant ‘what ifs’ in football, with the fast switch from hero to zero for Coady at Wolves being a difficult concept to fathom, with the 30-year-old once being a pivotal cog in the squad.
If the defender had retained his spot in the side, there could have been a far bigger window for the price that he could have been sold at, as well as what his on-field experience could have done for O’Neil during his tenure.
In the 2018/19 campaign, the centre-back ranked at the top in terms of passing range, topping the charts with 84 accurate long passes in the Premier League that season, beating the likes of Virgil van Dijk, via Sky Sports.
Things can change in an instant, and for Wolves and Coady things didn’t pan out as expected, as was notable this summer with his exit summoning a far lesser figure than ever anticipated.