REPORT: Leicester confident of Coady signing despite seeing first offer rejected as player gives greenlight to move, Foxes prepare second bid as they look to seal signing this week

Leiester City are confident of signing Wolves defender Conor Coady.

The 30-year-old spent last season on loan at Everton, but the Premier League side rejected an option to buy him this summer, opening the door for Leicester to swoop.

According to the Mirror, City hope to have the transfer “completed by this weekend” ahead of the players return to training at Seagrave on Monday.

Leicester are said to have “beaten off strong Premier League competition” for the England international, something of a coup for Enzo Maresca who will be gaining a top quality player and a proven leader on his hands.

It is said that Maresca ‘targeted’ Coady after Pep Guardiola made ‘complimentary remarks’ after the defender came up against his Manchester City teams. Maresca worked with Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium before leaving to take the job at Leicester.

Leicester have already had one bid rejected by Wolves, according to talkSPORT, who say a second bid is being prepared with City confident of securing a deal “imminently”.

Coady played 24 times for Everton last season as they secured Premier League survival at the expense of City on a dramatic final day. He was a regular for Wolves in the Championship between 2015 and 2018, and then missed just one Premier League game in the four seasons that followed.

He won the Championship with Wolves in 2017-18 and was named in the Championship Team of the Season that year, before going on to become a top flight ever-present.

His 10 England caps, all coming since 2020, show how highly regarded he is by Gareth Southgate, despite having not played for one of the typically ‘big’ clubs. The player has reportedly given his greenlight to the move as he waits for the club to agree a deal.