Dundee boss Neil McCann has explained the club’s thinking behind the decision to release defender Steven Caulker.
The former England man cut short his Dens stay when his contract was cancelled just before Friday night’s transfer deadline.
It meant the 26-year-old left for free just months after a £1.2 million bid from Norwegians Rosenborg had been rejected.
For the Dark Blues, though, it appears to have been a case of cutting their loses and allowing a player who no longer wanted to be with them to go.
“When a player decides that he doesn’t want to be here and he wants to leave and try other challenges then you can’t hold someone prisoner,” said Neil.
“He is contracted to the club until the summer but he was strong in that he wanted to go.
“He’s the type of character that I’m trying to weigh up is it best for the club to keep someone who maybe wants to move to another challenge.
“Does it become an influence in the dressing-room that we don’t need?
“We talked to him, he said he just wanted to go then the club took the decision and that was right.
“We would have loved some money for him. He was on a big, big wage here for this club.
“When he took the decision that he wanted to go we managed to go out and strengthen that department.”
Caulker only joined up in February as a free agent.
However, after initially doing well and helping with the bid to avoid relegation last season, has not been a regular starter this term.
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