Reveals Glenn Roeder: "I have spoken to him today, after he has been with us eight or nine days, but now we have signed Lee Bowyer we are quite comfortable in the midfield positions - so we are going to allow him to move on.
"He played in the World Cup for South Korea last summer, and he is a very good player who I don't think will have any trouble getting fixed up somewhere in Europe."
And Glenn says he is going to keep a discerning eye on that part of the world, adding: "In that part of Asia - South Korea, China, and Japan - they are going to produce some excellent players over the next four or five years.
"Within 10 years I think lots of their players will be out and about playing in Europe.
"I have to say I have been very impressed with Everton's Chinese midfield player, Li Tie, and that part of the world is going to produce players over the next decade.
"They are starting to do it already, with one at Anderlecht as well as a few around the world, including Nakata in Serie A, who is an excellent player."
Although to some degree wary of signing foreign 'mercenaries', Glenn feels there is a diligence about players from south east Asia that is worth scrutinising, and he adds: "They have a great attitude to work. They are not lazy, they work hard in training and bring a lot of old-fashioned values to their game, which is fantastic.
"I love to see people who have got self-motivation, the desire to improve by practice.
"They are hungry people over there, they want to come to Europe and they want to be part of the success of European football."
He is not ruling out players from that part of then world eventually coming to Upton Park, and adds: "The man that has brought Kim Nam-Il in will hopefully be a contact for us over there, and we have told him, if he sees anything extra special, to give us a call.
"Because of having signed Lee Bowyer, and with the midfield players we have got available, we have decided to let him move on - but it was an exercise worth doing."