East Fife have decided to draw a line under the long-running saga surrounding Christian Nade by revealing that the striker will not remain at Bayview.
The 29-year-old former Hearts forward agreed to join the Methil club in the summer but did not formally sign a contract as he continued his recovery from an operation to clear up a persistent knee problem.
And while the surgery was a success and the way looked clear for the Frenchman to make his debut, prolonged problems with securing the necessary international clearance have scuppered the move.
Officials at Bayview had thought Nade was free to sign after leaving Thai club PTT Rayong but, after completing the paperwork at this end, they have now discovered through FIFA’S Transfer Matching System that he is not available until Christmas.
All parties have now decided that it would be in the club’s and the player’s best interests that Nade does not stay although him signing in January has not been completely ruled out.
“He had to sign before we could put him through the TMS and we did sign him, but there have been problems at the Thai end and basically they are not going to release him,” chairman Lee Murray explained.
“The earliest possible chance is January 1 and I’m not sure if we’ll do anything at that point. So at the minute it’s fair to say that the whole thing has stalled, or been stopped in its tracks.
“We had got a letter from the Thai club stating that he was free to sign, but we put it through the system and it turns out that that’s not the case.
“I felt and the manager felt that having Christian about the club and not being able to play for us was doing nobody any favours, so that’s where we are at the moment.
“We could potentially look at it again in the New Year, but I just felt that there was no point waiting around until then.”