BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks hailed “outstanding” Conor Coady as the fulcrum of the Wolves team that has taken the Premier League by storm.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side continued their strong start to the season by defeating Crystal Palace 1-0 on Saturday and they go into the international break seventh in the Premier League table.
Crooks has been blown away by the impact made by Liverpool reject Coady, who has started all eight of the team’s league fixtures this season.
“Why hasn’t this lad had an England call up?,” Crooks told the BBC Sport website. “He has captained his country at almost every level, was outstanding for Wolves last season in their title winning year and has made the transition from Championship football into the Premier League like a duck to water.
“Against Crystal Palace Coady was outstanding and he remains the central pillar of a Wolves team who have raced to 15 points already this season with extraordinary competence.”
OPINION
Is Coady inferior to newly-selected Lewis Dunk? Or James Tarkowski? Or Michael Keane? Definitely not. Is he worse at centre-back than Kyle Walker, who played in that position and looked England’s weakest link during the World Cup? Probably not. There is no doubt that the 25-year-old, who quit boyhood club Liverpool to drop down a division, has risen to new heights and is now ready to make the step up to international football. Coady has been brilliant this season in Wolves’ three-man defence, the same system that England play. Gareth Southgate likes his players to be performing regularly at a high level and Coady is most certainly doing that for his club. He has been the master and commander of one of the best defences in the league, which has conceded only six goals, a record bettered only by top three Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.