Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish has defended his decision to release Christian Benitez back to Santos Laguna.

Their decision not to take up the option on Benitez has sparked a debate on whether McLeish has made the right choice on the striker's future.

The Scottish tactician is refusing to be drawn too deeply into the discussion, hinting that Benitez's lack of production was also a factor in his exit.

"You can dress up the statistics any way you want," he said.

"We took 29 points in the first half of the season, we took 21 in the second half. There wasn't much of a difference and we had harder games in the second half of the season.

"And I had to be fair to the other players. Chucho wasn't the only one out of the team, either.

"If people were not playing at a level then other players had to get a chance. There's no point having a squad otherwise.

"So I can't just say to someone I will keep them in because we've had a great run of undefeated games."