Coventry City fans lumbered with replica Robbie Keane shirts are being offered a half-price replacement in a unique move by the club.

Around 1,000 fans bought shirts with Keane’s name on in preparation for the new season.

But following the sudden transfer of the 20-year-old to Inter Milan for £13 million, the shirts have become out-of-date.

Club bosses have made an exception to a rule that named and numbered shirts cannot be exchanged or refunded should a player leave.

Fans are given a slip warning them of this when they make their purchase. There was an uproar when Dion Dublin left the club leaving many supporters in a similar position.

Yesterday new club captain Moustapha Hadji announced he would foot the bill for changing replicas with his name after he asked to move to the number 10 position in the squad.

At selling price, this could be up to £18,000.

The club have now decided to give a 50 per discount to fans who bring their Robbie Keane shirt back. This means they could still collect up to £22.50 for a new sale.

Merchandise and Licensing Controller Paul Coles said more fans had bought Keane's shirt than any other.

He said:

"Robbie was obviously a very popular player and supporters, just like us, thought he was with us for the season.

“We do state very clearly that we cannot offer a refund or exchange but we have decided to make an exception.

"We know that other clubs who have lost high profile players have not offered a similar service but we feel the supporters have been a little hard done by in this case.

"People have to bring their Keane shirt to our stadium shop before the end of August and they will then be given a similar sized shirt complete with the name and number of any first team player and they can also keep their original top."