Released Walsall defender Paul Boertien admits he knew his time at the Banks’s Stadium was over weeks before he was let go.

The left-back was one of four players let go by Chris Hutchings last week, as the boss culled some of his most experienced men.

Joint 12-goal top scorer Michael Ricketts and captain Stephen Hughes went in the Banks’s Stadium clear-out, along with Boertien and young defender Hassan Bacchus.

The former Derby full-back reckons he knew his time was up after he failed to return to the team following an abdominal injury picked up at Leyton Orient in March.

He said: “It didn’t seem like he was going to play me so, reading between the lines, getting a new deal didn’t look likely.

“I’d played 13 games in a row before I got my stomach injury and came back after two weeks, but he never seemed to want to play me after that.

“I’d enjoyed my two years and hoped to stay. The previous year I’d had a few injuries, but this season I’d been injury-free and was really enjoying it under the manager.”

But Boertien insists he leaves the Saddlers on good terms.

He said: “If a manager wants to let you go and bring in his own players it’s his prerogative, so you never part on bad terms. ”

Now the 30-year-old is assessing his options following two seasons and 56 appearances at the Banks’s.

He revealed there has already been interest from League One and League Two but admits, in the current economic climate, finding a new club will be more difficult than ever.

He said: “It’s tough because clubs are cutting back. It seems quite a few of them are releasing a lot of players and, with the current climate, teams are going to their youth system a bit more or having smaller squads.”