Motherwell manager Graham Alexander was gutted to be losing Ricki Lamie - but the defender's professionalism despite signing a pre-contract at Dundee showed him all he needed to know.
The 28-year-old has committed himself to the Steelmen until 2024 after a relegation clause in his agreement at Dens Park allowed him to walk away from that contract after their demotion to Championship football.
He'll now join Alexander on 'Well's Europa Conference League campaign in July, after heading in the goals that sealed both a top six spot and a fifth-placed Premiership finish during 2021/22's 38-game league run.
Lamie emerged as one of Motherwell's most important players during the second half of the season even though there was a chance his future was elsewhere.
Dundee could have snapped him up in the winter too but Alexander is delighted that'll he remain his player.
He said: "We're so pleased to have kept Ricki (in January) with the amount of important goals he went on to score for us.
"It was fitting that Ricki did these things, because it must be really difficult for the player. You are playing for one club but you have signed for another in the same division.
"To keep your focus, that's when it comes down to the character of the player. Ricki Lamie stands out as we had two days to decide what we were doing.
"I felt in the year I had managed him, he showed nothing but full commitment. I didn't suspect that would change."
Tony Watt was a key performer for Motherwell in 2021 but just like Lamie, signed a pre-contract in Tayside during the January transfer window, only he headed across the road to Dundee United.
Mark O'Hara had also agreed a similar arrangement with St Mirren but this didn't arise until after the winter window.
Watt eventually joined the Tannadice club six months early and such situations have been difficult the Fir Park boss to wrap his head around, having only managed in the English Football League prior to arriving in ML1 almost 18 months ago.
The 50-year-old reckons Watt would have given everything to the cause had he remained in claret and amber for six more months, but different circumstances dictated each case.
Alexander explained: "The pre-contract situation isn't something I have experienced before. We have spoken about it and we are unsure about how we would face those problems again next season.
"I think we have to go along the lines of what we did in January, judge each case on its merits, and the character of the player involved. We'd need to assess their relationship with us.
"We would then make a call from there. We had the three pre-contract players in the end. Ricki and Mark - the two players who stayed with us - were superb.
"Tony knew about his situation pre-January, Ricki's was really late in the window so it was only a short period we had to manage that and Mark was later on in the season. He was here anyway.
"All three had different circumstances. That's not to say if Tony did stay until the end of the season, he wouldn't have been as been committed as he had been. It's not that. There were different circumstances."
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