During the summer transfer window, Wolves made the somewhat baffling decision to loan their captain, Conor Coady to Premier League rivals Everton.

Despite Willy Boly and Romain Saiss also departing the Old Gold, Bruno Lage felt that the Englishman wouldn't suit his switch to a four-at-the-back system, and he was allowed to join the Toffees in order to return to Merseyside.

While Nathan Collins was brought in from Burnley, Wolves were always going to look short of options at centre-back following Coady's departure and that potential issue quickly presented itself after Collins' red card against Manchester City.

Lage clearly felt that neither Yerson Mosquera nor Toti were ready to start a game of Premier League football, so opted to play Ruben Neves as a centre-back in the recent defeat against West Ham, the game that brought an end to his tenure.

Even more remarkably, the Portugal international was one of three centre-backs that day, which suggests that Lage's switch to a back four had failed, and therefore there was very little reason to let Coady go in the first place.

Meanwhile, the England international is excelling with Frank Lampard's side, as the Toffees have gone six games unbeaten after starting the season with two defeats. Indeed, he is now part of statistically the best defence in the league, with no top-flight side conceding fewer goals than Everton's seven.

Coady has averaged a solid 6.68 rating from WhoScored for his performances, which is only bettered by Max Kilman of Wolves' defensive players, which again emphasises that the Old Gold made a mistake in letting him go.

BBC Sport contributor Chris Wise said: "Wolves allowing Conor Coady to join Everton on loan felt like strange business at the time, and now looks really foolish. They’ve gifted EFC a leader. Impact of that move being felt right now at both clubs."

The Telegraph's John Percy revealed earlier this week that the Toffees have an option to make Coady's move permanent and can sign him for the cut-price of just £4.5m, which represents truly awful business by Wolves.

Coady is only 29, is a regular in the England side and was captain of the club, while he also has three years to run on his contract at Molineux, so to sell him for that little is completely baffling.

Should Wolves continue to struggle defensively this season and finish below a much-improved Everton, then they only have themselves to blame.