Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed Conor Coady’s transformation after he let the Wolves captain leave Anfield.
The Foxes boss handed Coady his senior debut in the Europa League against Anzhi in 2012 and his Premier League bow at Fulham in 2013 while Liverpool manager.
He allowed him to move to Huddersfield a year later, after a loan at Sheffield United, and former midfielder Coady has reinvented himself as a trusted centre-back at Molineux to become an England international.
He has not missed a minute in the Premier League since Wolves’ promotion in 2018 and, ahead of their trip to Leicester on Sunday, Rodgers believes Coady has been a revelation.
He said: “It has been so refreshing seeing a young player you’ve worked with come through the levels. He has always had that joy of football, it was his passion.
“He has gone on to become a full international and plays at a really high level. He has been superb for Wolves.
“I am so pleased for Conor because he was a young player when I went into Liverpool and he was always deemed to have an fantastic attitude.
“When he did step up and train with us he was excellent. We gave him his debut in a Europa League game in Russia and he did every so well.
“He he was a midfield player at that moment and it was difficult for him to get in. I followed his career through to Huddersfield where he was playing in a 4-4-2 and certainly not as he is now.
“The transformation and seeing him playing at the back didn’t surprise me because he has a wonderful football brain. He is very good technically and is a really good communicator.”
Brendan Rodgers likes what he is seeing from Conor Coady (Nick Potts/PA)
Coady takes Wolves to a Leicester side who have won their last five matches, including Thursday’s 4-0 Europa League win over Braga.
They are among the early pacesetters in the Premier League with Wolves but Rodgers urged them to remain humble.
He said: “When I ask them to play for me and the club you are putting them in a stressful situation, physically, emotionally and tactically. How they have responded has been absolutely incredible.
“The Premier League is one where you have to have humility, no matter how well you’re doing or how hard you are working you’ll always have a tough game.”
