PSV Eindhoven director Marcel Brands has revealed that he told Noni Madueke's father the winger would not be sold during the January transfer window prior to his eventual move to Chelsea.
Madueke, born and raised in London, returned to England with a sensational transfer to the free-spending Blues worth an initial €33m last month.
But PSV had planned on keeping the 20-year-old at least until the end of this season, with Brands even informing the player's father of the decision.
"We knew [Madueke's] personal situation, that he really wanted to go back to England," Brands told Voetbalzone.
"I literally said to his father: 'Not this winter, because his value is not such that we want to do a transfer with him.' But at some point there will be bids.
"First €25m, then 28, 32, 35, and then it will be close to forty million. Then we wondered internally whether we should hold back any longer."
Madueke was not the only big-money departure from PSV last month, with Cody Gakpo signing for Liverpool at the start of the January window.
"You are happy to have taken the financial pressure off for a while, but as a football man it hurts to lose two of your best players," Brands added.
"That mix is always there. You are proud that Cody is going to a club like Liverpool. But it also hurts your heart a bit. That financial necessity was there, we knew that.
"We were able to anticipate that well. Hopefully the new guys [Thorgan Hazard, Patrick van Aanholt and Fabio Silva] give an impulse so that the sporting damage is limited."
