Coppell had to Let Seol go

For several months it had been likely that Seol Ki-Hyeon would leave Reading, it was only a matter of time, and Steve Coppell has admitted that the relationship breakdown left him with little option.

He told readingfc.co.uk, "Well to be honest I think I would probably say that to a certain extent I lost Seol last season by not playing him regularly.

"He is a confident player, he felt he should have been playing every game. Also by bringing him off in a few games when he felt he shouldn't have been brought off.

"Our relationship was affected by that and it became fairly obvious I think, from the end of last season, that he wanted to move on.

"It wasn't perhaps said in the open but in the chats we had I knew where he was coming from, and where he wanted to go, and that was Fulham, that was obvious from last season.

"There is a big Korean community by their training ground and he wanted to live there. He spent a lot of time there when he was living in Reading so to make the best of the situation we got in dialogue with Fulham and certain deals were mooted."

It was a shame to see Seol leave, as he is a very good footballer, who is probably very underrated but every cloud has a silver lining and Coppell is very happy with the deal that was struck with Fulham that allowed Liam Rosenior to move to the Madejski Stadium in exchange.

"In the end Liam was offered in a straight swap and we thought, in an ideal world Seol would have stayed, I wanted him to stay and I told him that, but his heart was elsewhere and when the deal was put to me, I am getting an under 21 international," Coppell also told readingfc.co.uk.

"He is English so he's not going to be disappearing for games on the other side of the planet.

"He is a young man who wants to prove himself and it just seemed to be the right move. He has come in now and to a certain extent he has come into an unfamiliar situation.

"He has got to find his feet very quickly. This two-week gap has given him the opportunity to get to know us all or most of us, and we will see what he can contribute to us."

Fulham have gained a very good professional in Seol Ki-Hyeon but so have Reading in Liam Rosenior, who in the longer term should represent a better acquisition.

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