Wolves' Conor Coady snub explained by England boss Gareth Southgate
Conor Coady has missed out on a place in the England squad due to the national team playing four at the back, boss Gareth Southgate has suggested.
The Wolves captain has been overlooked by Southgate despite his impressive Premier League form for Nuno Espirito Santo's side.
James Tarkowski of Burnley and Michael Keane of Everton have got the nod over Coady.
Southgate is keeping tabs on Coady and hasn't ruled out calling him up in the future.
The England boss, speaking at a press conference ahead of Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro, was full of praise for the Wolves defender but suggested it'll be difficult for Coady to fit in now that England play with a four-man defence.
"I can’t say anything other than positive things from what I’ve seen, but the system we’re playing at the moment, it’s difficult to map him into and how would he be as a centre back in a four?" Southgate said in the Times.
"He’s playing as a sweeper in a back three, so it’s very different to how anybody else in the Premier League is playing.
"He’s having an outstanding season and you can’t fail to be impressed.
"He’s very comfortable on the ball, but it’s quite difficult to put that into a back four.
"We’d been trying him in what even might be the only time he’s ever played centrally in a back four if we have him in.
"Yes, we could bring him in to train and have a look at that, but we wouldn’t really know enough."
One of the first things Nuno did as Wolves boss was convert Coady to a centre half.
He was signed by Kenny Jackett in 2015 from Huddersfield as a central midfielder, while the 26-year-old also spent the majority of 2016/17 playing at right-back.
"Maybe it might be easier to fit him into the way we’ve played in the last few months as a sitting midfield player, but again he’s not playing there every week," Southgate added.
"So you’d be asking him to come into a heightened environment and intensity in a role that he’s not playing every week.
"That’s a really tough challenge. Maybe we’ll see him in other positions as we move forward, but we’re definitely monitoring him.
"He’s unfortunate at the moment, it’s not a system we’re looking to play, but we have done in the past, and if we’re thinking about that as a possibility moving forward, then he would definitely be in the frame.
"Knowing a little bit of him, as a young player he was an outstanding captain at the Under-17s Euros and he’s a great character.
"We know 100 per cent that he would fit into the mentality of player and person that we like to work with because he’s a top kid."
