'Honest' Taricco leaves West Ham

Mauricio Taricco has left West Ham United saying an injury on his debut brought his new club a problem, when he had joined them to solve one. "From providing them with a defensive solution instead I handed them a headache and I didn't want to do that," Taricco said.

"I went to see them and proposed rescinding the contract, and after giving it a bit of thought they accepted," the 31-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur full-back said.

Taricco joined West Ham from Spurs at the end of last week but pulled a hamstring 30 minutes into his debut against Millwall on Sunday.

Alan Pardew, the West Ham manager, said the decision was mutually agreed. "When Tanno knew he was going to be out for so long, he felt very uncomfortable about the situation and came to me offering to terminate his contract. This is one of the most honest acts from a player I have experienced in all my years in the game," Pardew said.

As Taricco signed a contract with West Ham only until June and faces eight weeks on the sidelines he did not think it fair to be paid while he was injured for such a large period of the deal. He added: "It's not a serious injury, its a pulled hamstring which needs six to eight weeks' recovery, but I had only just arrived at the club.

"If this had happened to me at Tottenham it would have been different. I was there for six years, being out for eight weeks is little in that context. I played more than 150 matches for Tottenham.

"For West Ham I played less than half an hour and I had agreed a deal for six months until the end of season. I didn't want to bring them another problem having joined them to play. I didn't like the idea of going into the club just to be in the treatment room. So I'm a free agent again."

Pardew added: "He didn't have to make that decision, which shows that his character and personality off the pitch is far removed from the image sometimes portrayed."