Wanted Marius flies home

Jul 20 2008 By Alasdair Fraser

STRIKE ace Marius Niculae will be a shock absentee from Caley Thistle's tour of Denmark, it emerged last night.

The Romanian Euro 2008 star, who is wanted by a clutch of European clubs, was yesterday given permission to return home on personal business.

The move came as Caley confirmed they had rejected a bid from German giants Kaiserslautern although the club admitted Friday's bid was not far short of their £500,000 valuation.

The 27-year-old, who has a year left on his budget-busting £4000- a-week deal, is also a target of Turkish side Kayserispor and Greek outfit PAOK Thessaloniki.

Caley director of football Graeme Bennett last night revealed: "Marius is going back to Romania to deal with personal business while the other players are in Denmark this week.

"We have had offers for Marius but rejected them. I wouldn't say they are well-short but the deal is not yet correct for Inverness "We made a big investment in Marius and, while we are not being greedy, we want to recoup our money."