Overview
- A joint statement on Wednesday, October 28 said Derry City and James McClean had mutually agreed to terminate his contract with immediate effect and that both parties were satisfied with the outcome.
- McClean had not played for the club since July after hip and fitness problems and a breakdown in relations that led the club to seek to cancel his deal on medical grounds.
- The player publicly criticised the club's earlier termination attempt through the PFAI and told RTÉ he would not attend the FAI Cup final, saying he planned to take his son to Old Trafford instead.
- Derry City thanked senior legal counsel Joe Jeffers SC and Stuart Gilhooly SC for helping conclude the matter and said neither the club nor McClean would make any further comment.
- The settlement leaves McClean, a long-serving Republic of Ireland international, as a free agent and closes a high-profile dispute that has shaped the club's public narrative in the run-up to the November 8 Cup final.