Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has defended the club’s decision to sell Cole Kpekawa to Championship rivals Barnsley, insisting the youngster “needed to be at a faraway club and away from his comfort zone.”

Many supporters were perplexed at the sudden news and vented their anger over the transfer, but Hasselbaink has reiterated that this was in the best interests of both parties, particuarly Kpekawa.

He told the Times: “If Cole Kpekawa was here and in the right state of mind and in the right shape then he would have had a chance of playing, it’s as simple as that.

“He needs to be at a faraway club and away from his comfort zone to be able to fulfil his potential. He needed to get his own life in order, instead of us getting his life in order.

“Niko (Hamalainen) is progressing. He’s the next one in line.

“And it’s up to him if he can fulfil his potential, we are just giving him the opportunity. We should not be afraid of giving him that opportunity at the right time.

“I think Hamalainen and Kpekawa are totally different individuals.

“With Niko you have to give more advice and coach him in certain areas, whereas with Cole he had to sort his life out more outside of football than Niko, for instance.

“We need to try and get Niko out of his shell at the moment.

“We knew it was a learning curve with Cole, we did everything in our power to get that right, but he just needed to be out of his comfort zone as it was too comfortable for him here – he needed to go away.”