14-01-2016, 21:17
Because he only had six months left on his contract (eighteen if we'd activated the option) and had refused to sign the improved one that was offered to him. We did well to get a fee for him at all given the contract status, and Hull naturally got a bigger fee because he was on a brand new contract there. No mystery around it at all: our choice was letting him go for £7m that January or letting him go for free a few months later.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley