Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara has revealed why he decided to let Brian Graham go out on a season-long loan to Tayside rivals St Johnstone.
The 26-year-old striker joined the Tangerines in May last year and was seen by many as a direct replacement for former United skipper Jon Daly.
However, Graham struggled to make an impact under McNamara and has been restricted to just one substitute appearance so far this season, against Ross County last Saturday when he came on for the final four minutes.
The player he replaced was summer signing Mario Bilate, one of the strikers ahead of him in the pecking order, with Nadir Ciftci also blocking his path to regular first-team football.
McNamara admitted: “Brian has been a bit limited in terms of appearances this season as well as last year and he is a bit frustrated about that.
“But I see the two other strikers ahead of him. At this stage of Brian’s career, he wants to try to get regular football which I couldn’t guarantee him. I don’t want to keep anyone here who is unhappy.”
Despite Graham’s departure, McNamara admitted that he will not be looking to bring another striker in, preferring to keep faith with Bilate and Ciftci as well as promising youngster Jordan Moore following his battle with skin cancer.
The manager said: “I will see but just now we have the two up the middle and other options there as well. It is good to have young Jordan Moore coming back and we have high hopes for him. We will look to get him fit as soon as possible now.”
Graham is the second United player to go out on loan this week, following Kudus Oyenuga’s move to Cowdenbeath until January.
And McNamara admitted that the club continue to actively secure Michael Gardyne another club.
He said: “We are still trying to get Michael out. We want him to go and play football rather than sitting frustrated and not getting a look-in. We don’t want to keep anybody here who is unhappy or is not going to get an opportunity.”
United look to cement what would be a good start to the league campaign with a win over St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday.
Tommy Craig’s side beat Dunfermline in the League Cup in midweek but have yet to register a victory in the Premiership so far.
McNamara is determined St Mirren’s losing streak will continue to send United into the international break with four wins out of five under their belts.
He said: “They will get a lift from the midweek win over Dunfermline. I watched the game last week against Dundee and I thought it was one they shouldn’t have lost.
“They had good opportunities in the match. They passed it well and had good energy about them. The only thing missing was the finishing.
“However, I am always confident of going away and winning so if we do our jobs properly we will have a good chance of getting three points.
“We want to go into the international break with four wins out of five. To do that in the first part of the season would be a good start for us.”
McNamara has almost a full squad to choose from for the game in Paisley with Stuart Armstrong the only doubt.
The manager added: “We are just waiting on Stuart to see if he has any chance at all of making the squad. We will know tomorrow but we will not take risks with him.
“However, he has been responding quite well to treatment so we will give him every opportunity.”
Meanwhile, United midfielder Paul Paton has been included in the Northern Ireland squad for the Euro 2016 qualifier versus Hungary in Budapest on September 7.