Sam Allardyce delivered a farewell blast to Benni McCarthy after Blackburn Rovers agreed a fee with West Ham United to sign the South Africa striker, reports The Guardian. McCarthy has gone AWOL this week in an attempt to force through a transfer but such action may have been unnecessary after the clubs agreed a fee believed to be £2.25m.

The 32-year-old has stayed away from training for the last three days, with some reports saying he was in Spain, and his behaviour drew the ire of the Rovers manager Allardyce, who condemned McCarthy as "unprofessional" and said his conduct is symptomatic of selfishness and disloyalty shown by many players.

"What he has done is unprofessional. It shows you that the only loyalty a player has got is to himself," Allardyce said. "This is what we deal with today in football, there's not such a thing as loyalty as there used to be in the older days when I was a player.

"It's a selfish attitude they have and that's not just about Benni, that's all players today. If they want something they do anything to try and get it," Allardyce said, adding that McCarthy may have been badly advised.

"If he is trying to manipulate a move by staying away it's not the right thing to do. Sometimes players will get advised wrongly and I think whoever is advising him to stay away is very wrong as he's done himself no favours."