BRIAN RICE admits he will be sad to see Hakeem Odoffin leave Accies in the near future after Hamilton accepting a bid from English League One outfit Rotherham for the defensive midfielder’s services – but is pleased to see his club finally rake in a transfer fee for a player.

Greg Docherty’s move to Rangers in January 2018 – for a fee believed to be around £500k – was the last time a member of the playing squad was sold, while the development fee received from Lewis Ferguson’s transfer to Aberdeen later that year represents the most recent occasion where there was some sort of financial mitigation after a player departed Lanarkshire.

Odoffin was arguably Rice’s most important player in Accies’ ultimately doomed bid to beat the drop last season, and was a stand-out in midfield after playing the majority of the previous campaign in defence for Livingston.

The way Rice sees it, the 23-year-old’s imminent move is just rewards for his development at Hamilton – something that the manager feels should be high up his list of priorities at the club.

“A fee has been agreed with Rotherham for Hakeem, now it's up to Hakeem to do his medical and agree personal terms,” Rice said. “I always like to see people bettering themselves.

“Our job here is to set people on a pathway, but it's always difficult when you lose players that have done really well for you, so it's a two-way thing.

“I'm delighted for the boy that he's got a move to an English team, he's closer to home, financially it will be better for him, but obviously disappointed to lose a player of his calibre that has done fantastically well for us last season.

“I think it's really important and it's been good business sense by the club to have him on a contract, to negotiate the fee, whatever it is, and it's always nice to receive money. Too many good players leave their clubs these days without getting the just rewards.”

Rice hopes that some of the funds raised by Odoffin’s sale will be reinvested into the playing squad at the Fountain of Youth Stadium as the 57-year-old fine-tunes his squad for their upcoming push for promotion. He admits that a few targets have slipped through the net recently but is hopeful of making a few more additions sooner rather than later.

“That will be a discussion we'll have with the board,” Rice explained. “When you lose a player like Hakeem who's vital for us you've got to go and try to replace him.

“We know we've got three or four to get in, but we've brought Lewis Spence in who will be a good addition in midfield as well.

“We had an eye on it that Hakeem may leave, there was nothing definite at the time, but we know we need to strengthen there as well.

“We've tried to bring two or three in this week already, and we've not been successful because they've chosen either not to come or to go elsewhere, but there are still three or four that we're talking to, and hopefully we can get one or two in by the weekend.

“There will be a few players who have trained this week who have not been involved so far. Hak would have been back from his Covid situation, Andy Ryan will be back from his Covid situation, so the squad will be stronger but there will be four or five of the lads who haven't played any of the games, who will strengthen the bench, at least.”

“Scott Martin is going to be three or four months, he needed an operation, so Scotty is a long way away. He only had an operation two weeks ago.

"David Templeton is back training with the squad, he's had a couple of weeks of almost full training, but we have to remember he's not played since October, we have to make sure he doesn't break down.

"There are one or two lads... Scott McMann hasn't done a pre-season, he's back training this week and there are one or two others.

"We're getting there slowly, but because of how things are at the moment they will be involved at some stage."