Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has lifted the lid on reasons behind the omission of Caleb Ekuban, Eunan O'Kane and Vurnom Anita from the 2018/19 squad list.
The 24-year-old has struggled since he joined the Lilly-Whites at the start of last season after joining on a four-year deal.
He failed to establish himself in the Yorkshire-based side - scoring just 2 goals in 21 appearances in all competitions.
The striker has been plagued by injuries since joining the side with manager Marcelo Bielsa opting to leave him out of the squad for the upcoming season.
Manager Marcelo Bielsa was reported to have told the former Chievo Verona striker to look elsewhere with the English Championship side keen to consider offers from interested clubs.
"When a professional player has a history as a football player, for example [Vurnon] Anita, [Eunan] O'Kane and [Caleb] Ekuban have history, one way to respect them is to keep them inside the team if they have the possibility to play in another position," Bielsa revealed.
"If we have one position and three players it's very difficult that the third player in the position gets time to play. I saw every game and every minute that they played last year and I also listened to the opinion of the club. Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa to give Rotherham the respect they deserve "If you haven't trained a player it's a deficit to make a decision. We then built a group where we have two players for each position and if we had acted in another way it would have been counterproductive."
"For example I have [Luke] Ayling, [Stuart] Dallas and [Jamie] Shackleton, because Shackleton is a youngster who has time to develop in his career, but I can't do the same thing with Ayling, Dallas and Anita."
"I would be doing something not very good to one of the three players, so when you take decisions you have to transmit them at the right moment and I think this is an honest behaviour."
"Of course I can make mistakes but I don't want to make any mistakes. For example I can say that because of Dallas' injury it could have been a good thing to have Anita with us, it would have been better for me but I think it would be unfair to keep a player with us if he doesn't have the possibility to get the time he deserves."