Liam Cooper says Hull City return collapsed when 'at the last minute, the deal changed'

Cooper was released by Leeds United at the end of last season having played only a bit-part in the campaign which took them to the Championship play-off despite being club captain.

Talks took place in the summer but reports claim the verbal offer he was made would have involved a big pay cut.

Instead, it seemed he was on the verge of joining hometown club Hull, where he began his career, after being pictured in the director's box ahead of August's 0-0 draw with Millwall.

But a deal fail to materialise, with Cooper now claiming the terms changed at the last minute.

Instead, he moved to Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia.

Hull did not add to the young central defender Charlie Hughes and Finley Burns (loaned from Manchester City) they had already signed in the window, and it was only in February that they brought in John Egan to add experience there.

"Things were happening," Cooper told Leeds Live. "Obviously, I was invited to game, and things were getting a lot closer. And then finally, at the last minute, the deal changed – so that was it for me, really.

"The deal changed last minute, and I was out. I just said, ‘No, I can't do that,’, and I walked away from it. So obviously, there were talks, and it was close, but as soon as the deal changed, that was me out of there.

"After speaking to a few clubs in the Championship and obviously receiving offers and things like that, it just wasn’t something that I was overly keen on"

Cooper later moved to the Bulgarian capital, where he is now CSKA captain.

“My agent got in touch with me, and it came out of the blue," he said. "I had a few phone calls and jumped on a Zoom call with the directors in Sofia.

“I'm 33 years-old now and probably not got as long in the game as I'd like to have… I just wanted to experience that (playing abroad) before my career was over.”

Hull declined to comment on his remarks.