In his past five years at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Conor Coady has been perfect.
Not perfect in terms of performance. After all, no footballer is. But in terms of being a leader, in setting an example, in fronting up on all manner of subjects and being a reference point for an entire football club, he has been faultless since first being named captain in the summer of 2017.
Back then, his future was anything but certain. In two years at Wolves he had struggled to nail down a place in his preferred central midfield role, ultimately seeing more action at right-back while the then-Championship side found itself in a state of flux, amid managerial changes and the arrival of new owners in Fosun International. Then Nuno Espírito Santo arrived.
