Tony Mowbray says he understands the decision of Kasey Palmer to seek another opportunity in the Championship after struggling for game-time at Rovers.

Palmer was recalled by parent club Chelsea before being loaned to Bristol City, his fifth loan move in two-and-a-half years.

The attacking midfielder started 10 of Rovers’ 26 Championship matches, scoring once, as well as netting twice in three Carabao Cup appearances.

Mowbray revealed Rovers didn’t discuss the possibility of Palmer staying, after the player made it clear he was keen to move on.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Mowbray said: “I talked to Kasey a lot, the bottom line is that he hasn’t played as much as he would have wanted to. I can fully understand it.

“As I’ve said to him I’m not here to do anything other than help his career, but if he can’t get in our team as much as he would have liked and played as many minutes as he would have wanted to then I understand him wanting to look for another opportunity.

“I fully respect that. He’s been a joy to work with, he’s got a lovely personality, he’s got talent but yet, as I’ve said to him, I select teams on instinct and if he doesn’t get in the team he doesn’t get in the team.

“There’s no agendas. If he doesn’t play as much as he would like, and that’s why Chelsea send their young players out on loan, I fully understand it.

“I have no issues.”

Chelsea youth coach Joe Cole spent time at Rovers’ Brockhall training base last month to check on Palmer’s progress.

The Premier League club chose to trigger the January recall clause in Palmer’s season-long deal signed last summer.

Mowbray hinted as much last month, with the club paying just a fraction of his wages.

Asked if Rovers tried to negotiate a position of Palmer staying at Ewood Park until the end of the season, Mowbray said: “It didn’t work like that.

“It never got to a point of any confrontation, Kasey’s not the type of kid to knock on my door every morning and say ‘why am I not playing?’

“Joe Cole was down only 10 days ago and watching training and was talking about Kasey as one of their loan managers.

“We discussed why he hasn’t played, why he has played, what he needs to work on, and all that sort of stuff. They employ people to keep an eye on their loan players.

“I think they probably feel he needs to play more.

“The danger for any young player is he goes to another club and finds himself in the same situation, as he did at Derby, where he ended up playing a lot off the bench.

“He’s a young guy trying to find his way.

“From my perspective I want to thank him for all the stuff he did for us. The decision has been made for him to see if he can play more at Bristol City.”

Palmer was used in the wide areas for the most part by Rovers, rather than his preferred number 10 role, the same as talisman Bradley Dack.

He failed to displace ‘special talent’ Dack, who moved to 13 goals this season against Newcastle on Saturday.

And Mowbray added: “I think in respect of Kasey, he sees himself as a number 10, playing behind the striker, whereas we have tended to play him out wide, practically every time he played.

“Why? Because Dack was playing there and scoring goals.

“I explained that to Kasey. Dack’s speciality is that he’s a number 10 but he scores goals, he gets in the six yard box and that’s a special talent he’s got to score the goals that he scores.

“Kasey had to understand that and if he was going to play then it would be in a position other than Bradley’s.”