Hull boss Marco Silva insists the club had to sell Jake Livermore to West Brom because they need the funds to reinvest in their own new players.
Midfielder Livermore - one of the Tiger's key players - completed a £10m move to the Baggies on Friday.
Hull had issues signing players in the transfer market last summer and have subsequently struggled for numbers this season - something often highlighted by former boss Mike Phelan.
New manager Silva, who won his first Premier League game in charge over Bournemouth last weekend, said: "It was important to get the funds
"Of course he was a really important player for us but we got a very good proposal for him and the deal is closed. It is football and what we need is to find a similarly placed player.
"We don't have a big budget to find the best solutions sometimes, but it is football and we need to continue to fight to improve our squad."
Hull visit Chelsea on Sunday, a game which will be shown on Sky Sports 1 HD, and Antonio Conte's side recovered from their setback at Tottenham with victory over Leicester last week.
"They have a very good coach in Antonio Conte and it will be a tough test for us to go to Stamford Bridge," Silva said.
"But we will go there and look to compete. We will need to produce a good team performance. We will have to show our organisation and compete for the full 90 minutes.
"The only difference this week is that we have had more time to prepare ahead of the game. That is important for me and my players. They have had more time to work with my ideas and hopefully we will see the benefits on Sunday."