“That wasn’t our doing, it was forced through by the player and his agent”- Mark Robbins explains Kasey Palmer’s deadline day exit to Hull as he says player & agent forced move away from Coventry

Mark Robins has claimed that Kasey Palmer and his agent “forced” his deadline day move to Hull after failing to be offered a new contract at Coventry City.

The Sky Blues boss admits that while it may “feel” like his side has been left weaker, he doesn’t agree. He also revealed that the club did attempt to get a new player signed in the final 24 hours of the summer transfer window but that it simply didn’t “materialise” on the day.

Asked by CoventryLive to explain Palmer’s transfer for an undisclosed fee, the manager said: “That wasn’t our doing, it was forced through by the player and his agent. He’s in the last year of his contract. With Kasey you understand that as soon as you don’t offer him a new contract, and I wasn’t in a position to offer him a new contract, you know what he’s likely to do and how he’s likely to be. And there’s no point having him.

“He’s been brilliant while he’s been here but it’s just the nature of the beast. And it’s agents that agitate to get moves for their players when they want. We could have dug our heels in, that’s for sure, but to get a fee for him, a player who we got on a free transfer…”

He added: “It really isn’t ideal because you feel a little bit weaker coming out of it. But, ultimately, we’re not.

“Could we have done something else? Potentially, but it just came so late in the window and we had no time to react.”