Norwich City sporting director Ben Knapper has insisted selling midfielder Marcelino Nunez to the Blues in the summer was the right decision.
The Chilean international became the first senior player to move across the Norfolk-Suffolk border in 24 years when he joined Town for an initial £7.5 million rising to £10 million in August, prompting a huge negative reaction from Canaries’ supporters.
Last month, Norwich owner Mark Attanasio admitted the deal was an "own goal” for the Championship’s second-bottom side, but Knapper, who was appointed to his role in October 2023, is sticking to his guns.
"I knew at the time it was a difficult call,” he told TalkNorwichCity/. "It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, I knew it would be difficult for a lot of people to understand.
"The thinking was that he was a player we wanted to keep at the club - we made multiple advances to re-sign him. He made it clear he didn’t want to be there and he also made it clear that he wanted to join our biggest rivals.
"At the point that a player is saying that to me, I believe his position in our group is somewhat untenable. I don’t want people in our environment who don’t want to be in our environment or, moreover, want to be in the environment of our biggest rivals.”
Asked why the 25-year-old saw Town, among the pre-season favourites to win promotion back to the Premier League, as a more attractive prospect, Knapper flat-batted.
"I can't answer that, that’s a question you need to ask Marcelino,” he continued. "All I can talk about is how it is from my perspective and with the context I described and an offer that was multiples of his current market value.
"And let’s not forget that this is a player that has played just over 50 per cent of the minutes for us over three years.
"I think he made 22 goal contributions over those three years. Ante [Crnac] had more than half of that in his first season.
"There’s some perspective there as well and the other piece that’s in my mind is how the situation would play out if we didn’t do that and we had a player who doesn't want to be here, who wants to be with our biggest rivals.
"We’re probably not going to get the best version of that player for that season and then he goes and joins them for free anyway.
"In my mind, with all that information on the table, I still do think it was the right decision, even though I know it will be difficult for people to understand - at the time and now.”
On Tuesday, Blues CEO and chairman Mark Ashton said he wouldn’t have sold to Norwich had the boot been on the other foot.
"That’s his view, or their view,” Knapper added. "No problem. I respect everyone has a different perspective and mine was that.”