Thelwell was sporting director at Everton when Coady was on loan at Goodison but decided against a permanent switch
08:36, 07 Jun 2025Updated 08:37, 07 Jun 2025
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Conor Coady in action for Leicester City
Kevin Thelwell could be reunited with Conor Coady at Rangers after turning down the chance to sign him before.
Record Sport exclusively revealed that Russell Martin wants the former Wolves and Everton defender as one of his first signings since taking the reins at Ibrox.
Coady still has a year left on his Leicester City contract but faces an uncertain future with the Foxes following the relegation from the English Premier League and no concrete decision yet made on whether Ruud van Nistelrooy will still be in charge for their return to the Championship.
Thelwell, who will be heavily involved in any deal to bring Coady to Ibrox, knows the player well after he spent a year on loan at Everton from Wolves, playing the 2022-23 season at Goodison.
The defender was a popular figure on his native Merseyside and fans were keen to seal the option to make the deal permanent taken up by the Toffees.
Rangers sporting director Kevin Thelwell
However, they opted against doing a deal and Coady returned to Wolves, who sold him to Leicester that summer for a fee of £7.5million.
And Thelwell, now sporting director at Ibrox after joining from Everton last week, told the Training Ground Guru podcast why he made the call not to sign Coady two years ago.
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“If we go back in time, Yerry Mina hadn’t played a lot, but he finished the season strongly and played a big part in helping us stay up. We could have easily added another year on his contract,” Thelwell said.
“Coady came in the building and was a fantastic professional. It would have been very easy for us to sign Conor permanently for a low price, but we decided against that on the back of holding the door open for Jarrad (Branthwaite.”