Since their promotion to the Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers have spent some hefty transfer fees on players, with the likes of Raul Jimenez (£30m), Fabio Silva (£35.6m) and Nelson Semedo (£37m) joining for mouth-watering sums.

Of course, if Wolves are to become European regulars, more deals of this magnitude will have to be made. However, it must be remembered that the West Midlands club have been able to strike bargain deals with Conor Coady arguably the best example in recent seasons.

The then-Championship club signed the then-midfielder for £2m from Huddersfield Town in July 2015 after the Englishman had spent a season with the Yorkshire club following his release from Liverpool where he'd played as a schoolboy.

Fast forward six-and-a-half years and Coady is now 28, an England regular and Wolves' captain.

In his first campaign at Molineux, the 28-year-old made 37 Championship appearances as Wolves finished 14th in the second-tier, whilst his market value dipped slightly, going from £1.8m to £1.58m and wouldn't increase again until September 2017.

September 2017 marked the early stages of what would go on to be Wolves' title-winning campaign that saw them promoted to the Premier League, with Coady playing 45 out of their 46 league matches. It was also the first season where the defender had spells as captain.

Whilst being a Premier League regular for a side that has finished seventh twice and 13th, the Wolves captain's value has steadily increased with the steepest increase in market value coming between July and October 2020 where the Englishman went from £16.2m to £22.5m, his current value.

That period of time also saw Coady make his senior England debut, hence the value increase as he went on to be described as "phenomenal" by Dave Edwards.

Having been bought for £2m, the Wolves defender is now worth over ten times that figure, with this campaign arguably being his best for the Golden Boys so far.

With Bruno Lage's men the Premier League's second-best defence, Coady has been instrumental in helping contribute to that feat. The skipper has missed just three minutes of top-flight football this term and there is little indication that that run will end any time soon.

Moreover, it is well documented that his value as a player doesn't just help the football club but his value as a human being too, with the captain heavily influential with the football club and the work it does in the community of Wolverhampton.

Now a key member in the current England group, the defender is playing his best football at 28 and will surely go on to become a legend in this part of the West Midlands.

In other news: £37k-p/w waster may have cost Wolves a shot at silverware