Conor Coady has acknowledged that he did not enjoy sitting on the substitutes' bench for much of Wolverhampton Wanderers' pre-season campaign.
On Monday evening, it was confirmed that the 29-year-old had signed for Everton on a season-long loan deal, ending his seven-year stay at Molineux in the process.
Having made 317 appearances during that period and missing just one Premier League game in four years, there was initially an element of surprise when the England international was left out of several starting lineups ahead of 2022-23.
However, it was due to head coach Bruno Lage wanting to make the transition to a four-man backline involving two centre-backs, a system which does not suit Coady.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Coady has admitted that he has found it difficult to spend so much time on the sidelines, hinting that there had been a different feeling behind the scenes at the West Midlands outfit.
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Coady said: "Pre-season has been tough, the last five or six weeks have been really tough to be honest.
"I want to play every single minute of every game , but I got a vibe that something's coming here, something's not right. I could sense things, something was happening, it didn't feel the same."
As expected, Nathan Collins and Max Kilman got the nod ahead of Coady for Saturday's Premier League fixture at Leeds United, a game which Wolves lost by a 2-1 scoreline.
Although he naturally tried to orchestrate things from the side of the pitch, the club captain admitted that he struggled with an unfamiliar spot on the sidelines.
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Coady added: "I've got to be honest, I didn't like being sat on the bench at Leeds. I did my best getting behind the lads, I was talking, but it didn't feel right, I didn't like it. At 29-years-old, I want to be playing football."
Despite Coady's exit, Wolves still have a number of backup options to Lage's first-choice duo, and it is not an area that they are expected to try to improve during the closing weeks of the transfer window.
As it stands, Willy Boly, Yerson Mosquera and Toti Gomes are in reserve, while Leander Dendoncker would also come into the reckoning if Wolves revert to a back three.
On the same day that Wolves parted ways with Coady, Valencia winger Goncalo Guedes arrived at Molineux in a £27.5m deal.
Darren Plant
