Scottish Premiership: Which players have left top-flight clubs?
- Published
With contracts having expired and clubs unable to guarantee fresh terms, players throughout Scotland face the prospect of being unemployed.
Those span from Scotland internationals, such as Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon and Kilmarnock full-back Stephen O'Donnell, all the way through to young players with no sign of a deal elsewhere or qualifications to fall back on.
PFA Scotland has asked clubs to extend contracts using the government's job retention scheme, but some have been given legal advice to the contrary and have begun releasing players.
Here, BBC Scotland outlines the situation at each of last term's Scottish Premiership clubs...
NAC Breda left-back Greg Leigh and versatile Atlanta Untied midfielder Jon Gallagher are returning to their parent clubs after coming to the end of their loan deals. Goalkeeper Danny Rogers and midfielder Frank Ross have both also departed the club after their contracts expired. Tomas Cerny is also out of contract, but talks are ongoing with the goalkeeper over extending his stay at Pittodrie.
Jozo Simunovic and Jonny Hayes have both been released. Celtic have opted not to take the option of a further year on Croatian centre-back Simunovic's contract, while Irish winger Hayes has returned to Aberdeen on a two-year contract.
Gordon turned down an offer to stay on much reduced terms, instead opting to rejoin Hearts on a two-year deal. Full-back Calvin Miller has been released.
Defenders Alex Gogic and Aaron McGowan - who have since moved to Hibernian and Kilmarnock, respectively - and forward George Oakley announced they would leave the club.
Hamilton have since confirmed that Blair Alston, Jay Blair, Steve Davies, Johnny Hunt, Mickel Miller, Charlie Reilly, Jack Breen, Ross Connelly, Niyah Joseph, Ciaran McAndrew and Liam Scullion have also departed at the end of their contracts.
Goalkeeper Kyle Gourlay, 21, has signed a new contract until 2021.
The Tynecastle club are in the most difficult position of all due to not yet knowing what division they will be playing in. Manager Daniel Stendel has been replaced by Robbie Neilson.
Donis Avdijaj, Daniel Baur, Oliver Bozanic, Rory Currie, Clevid Dikamona, Marcel Langer, Steven MacLean, Kelby Mason, Jay Nwanze, Alex Petkov Dean Ritchie and Brodie Strang have left while loan trio Ryotaro Meshino, Joel Pereira and Toby Sibbick have returned to their parent clubs. Euan Henderson has signed a new deal to remain at the club until the summer of 2022.
Full-back Steven Whittaker, midfielder Vykintas Slivka and goalkeeper Adam Bogdan were released at the end of May. Jack Hodge, Kosovar Sadiki and Matthew Yates also moved on from the club's development squad.
Alex Gogic, Kevin Nisbet and Drey Wright have moved to Easter Road from Scottish clubs.
Kilmarnock have announced that midfielder Chris Burke will remain at the club next season after signing a one-year contract extension. 18-year-old midfielder Ally Taylor has also extended his stay, alongside attackers Rory McKenzie and Greg Kiltie and defender Ross Millen.
However, Scotland full-back O'Donnell and goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald have rejected fresh terms and departed.
Also leaving are Laurentiu Branescu, Harry Bunn, Dario Del Fabro, Adam Frizzell, Niko Hamalainen, Stephen Hendrie, Connor Johnson, Jan Koprivec, Devlin Mackay, Harvey St Clair and Iain Wilson.
Midfielders Steven Lawless, Chris Erskine and Craig Henderson plus defender Ricki Lamie - who has since joined Motherwell - departed at the end of their contracts. Loan players Ciaron Brown and Ryan Schofield return to their parent clubs but goalkeeper Robby McCrorie is back for another year from Rangers.
Defender Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, midfielders Scott Tiffoney and Carlo Pignatiello and third-choice goalkeeper Gary Maley have agreed new deals.
Tiffoney, Pignatiello, Ross Stewart, Rafa De Vita and Jack Hamilton rejoin the Premiership side after loan spells.
Dolly Menga's deal runs until the end of the June, while Alan Lithgow and Steve Lawson's contracts were due to end in May.
Captain Peter Hartley is one of 10 players leaving the club. Goalkeepers Mark Gillespie and Rohan Ferguson, defender Richard Tait, midfielders Christian Ilic and Adam Livingstone and forward Christy Manzinga are also departing.
Rolando Aarons, Mikael Ndjoli and Mark O'Hara return to Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Peterborough United respectively after loan spells.
Charles Dunne, Barry Maguire, Peter Morrison, Harry Robinson and Yusuf Hussain have all been offered extended deals. Strikers Christopher Long and Tony Watt have signed new one-year deals and Jake Hastie has re-joined the club on a season-long loan from Rangers.
Utility player Andy Halliday, full-back Jon Flanagan and goalkeeper Wes Foderingham left when their contracts expired at the end of May.
Also departing as free agents are Jason Holt, Jordan Rossiter and Jak Alnwick, who all spent last season on loan.
Winger Jake Hastie has joined former club Motherwell on a season-long loan, goalkeeper Robby McCrorie will spend a year on loan at Livingston and Matt Polster has moved to New England Revolution.
Defender Richard Foster, one of four out-of-contract Dingwall players who will be released, says it is "morally shocking" that clubs like County will not extend deals and use the government furlough scheme.
Lewis Spence, Sean Kelly and Declan McManus, as well as 10 reserve-team players, are also being freed. The other County players whose deals are due to run out are Iain Vigurs and Ross Munro. Midfielder Don Cowie has retired and joined County's coaching staff.
Captain Marcus Fraser departed the club after rejecting the offer of a new contract, but Callum Morris has signed a contract extension. Tom Grivosti and Harry Paton have also signed new contracts.
Manager Callum Davidson has been appointed as Tommy Wright's successor ahead of the new season.
Murray Davidson has signed a new contract until next summer while fellow midfielder Liam Craig, defender Callum Booth and striker Chris Kane have all agreed extensions until January.
Captain Steven Anderson is leaving McDiarmid Park after 16 years. Winger Drey Wright joined Hibernian after turning down a new deal, while Danny Swanson, Ross Callachan and David McMillan are also moving on. Out-of-contract youngsters Max Johnstone, Euan O'Reilly and Shaun Struthers have been released.
Forward Callum Hendry is also out of contract.
St Mirren announced in early June that captain Stephen McGinn as well as Danny Mullen, Gary MacKenzie, Ross Wallace, Tony Andreu and Cody Cooke would remain on furlough before leaving the club.
Goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky, who was the subject of a transfer bid in January, was offered a new deal but has chosen to move on. Oan Djorkaeff also departs while Akin Famewo, Calum Waters, Lee Hodson, Alex Jakubiak and Seifedin Chabbi are returning to their parent clubs following the expiry of loan deals.
Midfielder Ryan Flynn has signed a one-year deal to remain at the club, with the option of a further year.