Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor said he was disappointed with the combustible ending to England forward Chloe Kelly's time with his team.
Women's Super League rival Arsenal signed Kelly on a loan deal on Thursday until the end of the season, a day after the player demanded a move away.
"Really disappointing to come to this, obviously the ending that it kind of transpired to," Taylor said on Friday. "We never like to hear that a player has not had a good experience of being at the club.
"We're in a selection-based business where difficult decisions have to be made for the betterment of the team. Sometimes players can fall on the sharp end of that."
The 27-year-old started just one WSL game for City this season, and published a statement on X saying she wanted to move on and improve her chances of making the squad for England's European Championship title defence in July.
"I think when you take yourself out of the situation and look at the move that's been achieved, it is a rival, and they made the best offer, so we have certainly not stood in the way of a player being able to go and make the move that they want to make."
Welcome back to The Arsenal 💪
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 30, 2025
Chloe Kelly has joined us on loan for the rest of the 24/25 season.
The ugly situation should make for tense moments on Sunday when City host Arsenal in a WSL match at Joie Stadium. City are third in the standings on 25 points, one ahead of fourth-placed Arsenal.