Conor Coady has been a revelation for Wolverhampton Wanderers this season.
The Molineux skipper has taken on a new role as a ball playing centre half in Nuno Espirito Santo's table-topping side and has become the integral cog in the Wolves defence.
He has also become a huge favourite with the fans and has caught the eye of Premier League scouts in recent months.
Our sister title The Mirror have recently interviewed Coady and spoken to him about his decision to leave his boyhood heroes, Liverpool.
John Cross spoke to Coady about the decision to take a step back to go forwards, a heart rending decision that is reaping great rewards.
Coady was a Liverpool fan born and bred, grew up through the ranks at Anfield but had to leave his boyhood club to get regular games.
Coady, 24, has now established himself as a key figure in Wolves’ push towards the Premier League as Nuno Espirito Santo’s leaders are threatening to run away with the Championship.
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It is an exciting new lease of life for Coady who grew up at Liverpool and played all the way through the England ranks up to the under-20s.
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Coady has caught the eye as an outstanding ball playing centre half and is desperate to help Wolves get back into the top flight again.
Coady said: “It was a difficult decision to leave Liverpool but I knew it was something I had to do to get playing regularly and improve.
“Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool manager at the time) was brilliant with me, Sheffield United was a fantastic experience, then Huddersfield and when Wolves came up I had no hesitation at all.
“I knew what a big club it was before I joined but when you get there, it’s only then you realise just how big. The owners have been fantastic, the manager this season has been fantastic and they have taken the club to a whole new level.”
Coady grew up admiring Jamie Carragher and Wolves boss Nuno has also given him new confidence to develop his game. Michael Keane took a similar route to kick start his career and Harry Maguire has also got into the England set-up after coming up through the divisions.
“You try and pick up something from everyone you work with and I grew up watching Jame Carragher and it was such an honour to train with Liverpool’s first team,” said Coady.
“The way he reads the game, organises defences, it really helped me develop and then working with the manager at Wolves has pushed me on again. He’s absolutely top class.
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“He has managed at a high level with Porto in the Champions League and you can see that from what he does in training and the way he goes about his work.
“He has developed my game and has his own idea of playing. He made it clear he wanted to stick with his idea no matter who we were playing. No matter who the opposition is he wants to play good football.
“HIs man management is fantastic, he paints pictures in your mind so you can pick up tactics and he is so good with the lads, he breeds confidence.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been surprised at how well we’ve done because we always had confidence in ourselves but the manager has built on that.
“The Championship is such a tough division. Last week we played QPR and they gave us such a hard game. It means you cannot take it for granted.
“We’re not thinking about promotion or anything like that because we’ve still got 15 massive games left starting with Preston on Saturday.”