Dundee United’s squad reduction is under way already with both Guy Demel and Chris Erskine leaving Tannadice.
The pair were both told they didn’t have to travel for Friday’s game at Inverness and have been excused training for this week.
French-born Ivory Coast international Demel picked up an injury in training last week. He wouldn’t have made the ICT game and was going to be a major doubt for tomorrow’s home clash with Partick Thistle and the final-day visit to Kilmarnock on Saturday.
It’s understood he has travelled back home to France and is likely to now retire from playing.
Attacking midfielder Erskine has only featured five times since he announced in January he’d be returning to Partick Thistle for next season.
And it’s believed in the light of that and with relegation now confirmed he can start his summer holidays early.
The pair will still be paid up to the end of their contracts.
Midfielder Paul Paton may also have played his last game for the club.
That has more to do with ongoing knee problems than last week’s criticism of some of the big-name flops signed by sacked boss Mixu Paatelainen.
Paton may require further surgery to correct the injury that’s dogged him for more than a year now and since last month’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Hibs has faced a weekly battle to get fit for the next game. His absence on Friday night was down to that.
Caretaker boss Gordon Young, meanwhile, has expressed satisfaction with the win in the Highlands.
“I was delighted for the players. They were the ones who put their bodies on the line.”
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