Carlton Palmer believes that George Hirst's career has been adversely affected by the influence of agents in the game.

The young forward came through the ranks with Sheffield Wednesday where he was regarded as one of the hottest prospects in England.

However after a bitter contract dispute the striker was frozen out at Hillsborough after rejecting the offer of a new deal with the South Yorkshire club.

As a result Hirst made the move to Belgium where he linked up with former Owls' boss Nigel Pearson at OH Leuven where he scored three goals and racked up five assists for the Belgian side.

However after just a year the son of David Hirst returned to England with Leicester City.

Palmer was discussing the impact of agents on football and suggested that the 21-year-old would be much closer to fulfilling his potential had it none been for the outside influence of his representatives.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Palmer said: "Look at David Hirst’s son (George Hirst).

"He was at Sheffield Wednesday, there was a contract dispute and he went to Belgium and then came back.

"I don’t think he’s even featured in the reserves.

"But yet three years ago he was the leading goalscorer for England under-17s.

“You can quickly fade out of the picture when agents make these decisions for you. The main thing is to play football."

For Hirst, the focus now is on rebuilding his career.

With Leicester City he's at a club who are renowned for giving young players an opportunity to impress, and that's something that he has to capitalise on.

For this season, Hirst is on loan with Rotherham United where the hope is that he can really kick on and show just why he was so highly rated.