2 Quality Conor Coady Alternatives Newcastle Could Look To Sign
Newcastle United, and indeed West Bromwich Albion for that matter, still appear to be interested in attempting to sign Wolverhampton Wanderers central defender Conor Coady. The move would be quite a refreshing one for the Toon, given that there is no telling yet how good Coady could be in this position.
Coady arrived at Wolves from Liverpool as a midfield player before moving back to fill in at right-back under the then Molineux manager Paul Lambert.
In an interesting manoeuvre, instead of Coady taking up the right wing-back spot in Nuno Santo’s system, he has played as a part of the back-three. Not only that, but he is, in fact, the central figure in that back three and has even been wearing the captain’s armband recently.
In many respects then, Coady’s career is just beginning and if given the right encouragement and a chance to work with a proven world-class manager, Coady could go on to become a top-class centre-half.
He would not come cheap now though, given that Wolves have no need to sell and will be in the Premier League next season with Coady anyway. So, should Newcastle fail with this bid, here are two other centre-backs they could look to bring in:
Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Monchengladbach)
The giant Dane is some presence and would offer a completely different sort of solution to Coady, but one just as effective if not more.
Vestergaard is naturally a big danger from set-pieces and has, in fact, scored 7 goals in 45 league appearances for his current club – an extra outlet Benitez would be very grateful for.
His availability is open to question though and the potential fee for him would not be too exhaustive and should be within Newcastle’s grasp.
Pontus Jansson (Leeds United)
Having just secured the Swede’s services on a permanent basis in the summer, the last thing Leeds will want to do is get rid of Pontus Jansson so soon. But a lot may also depend on whether or not the club’s fortunes improve.
An ambitious bid and the promise of first-team Premier League football could tempt both the club and the player, should results not pick up quickly. There is no doubt that if Newcastle are on the hunt for top end Championship players to improve their options, then Jansson fits the bill.
Jansson has been consistently one of the top two or three central defenders in this league for a year and a half now and deserves a crack at the top division.