Frank Lampard heard Conor Coady directing his teammates in an empty stadium during lockdown and thought: "I wish we had one of those."
The Blues boss faced Wolverhampton Wanderers twice behind closed doors during the pandemic, winning one encounter and losing the other. Coady played for Wolves in both games and caught Lampard's attention as he led his teammates.
The 29-year-old is now playing under Lampard after Everton secured a season-long loan deal for the defender, who has already captained the Blues. His impressive form has not come as a surprise to his new manager, who placed an emphasis on targeting "good people" over his first full transfer window on Merseyside.
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Coady has had an instant impact at Everton and is already a respected figure on the pitch and in the dressing room. His teammates refer to both him and centre back partner James Tarkowski, also 29, as the "dads" of the squad and Coady can be seen - and heard - dictating and directing those around him on matchdays.
The pair have formed a formidable partnership since coming together for the trip to Aston Villa, helping the club to the best defensive record in the Premier League at this stage of the campaign. Lampard has spoken of the dressing room culture that is growing at Goodison Park and Finch Farm and has acknowledged both Coady and Tarkowski have been instrumental to setting high standards for the squad to live up to.
Speaking ahead of the match with Manchester United on Sunday, Lampard said: "It was a big part of our recruitment to bring in good people as well as good players. Sometimes you can pick someone for what they do on the pitch and you do not know a lot about them.
"Kevin [Thelwell, director of football] obviously knew Conor very well and from the outside I had an instinct just from listening to him speak. When [Chelsea] played Wolves during lockdown his voice was booming all around the stadium. I was thinking at the time: ‘I wish we had one of those’.
"We knew they would improve us in the dressing room. And when I say that it is not to the detriment of anyone else. It is about bringing it all together. Their personality brings the best out of others and ups the standards in training. That is a big deal for me - people with big personality. You can control parts of the changing room and training pitch, but other responsibilities have to be the players and they [Coady and Tarkowski) naturally take it on. We felt that and value that."
Lampard believes character can be an underestimated quality in a player. Of big personalities and vocal players, he said he had "seen good and bad in my career" - and that the bad ones can be annoying. He explained: "It is not always positive. It can lead to a confrontational moment in training.
"This is more driven in terms of keeping people doing the right things and, if someone is falling below that, saying ‘come on’. It is not shouting for effect when it is done in the right way and is genuine and the whole team responds, especially the younger players. It is a huge thing. I spoke last year about culture and approaching games. Did we have the confidence? We wanted to address it and it is definitely somewhere where we have progressed.”
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