FORMER Claret Danny Sonner is one of three players to have been released by Birmingham City boss Steve Bruce.

The Northern Ireland international had been injured for much of the new manager's time in charge at St Andrews and having won promotion to the Premiership without him, Bruce has let him go.

Sonner was recently back at Turf Moor enjoying the ten-year reunion of the players who were at Burnley when they won the last ever fourth division championship.

The 30-year-old midfielder admitted: "It has been frustrating not having the chance to show what I can do, all I want is the chance to get playing again now I am fit."

Sonner only made six league appearances for the Clarets before moving to play in Germany. He came back to England with Ipswich Town but came to the fore after a £75,000 switch to Sheffield Wednesday.

Now he will have to spend the summer looking for a new club in order to continue his career.

The other high profile players to be shown the door by Bruce are striker Dele Adebola and winger Jon McCarthy, adding to the large pool of talented players currently without deals ahead of next season.

Adebola, who moved to Birmingham from Crewe four years ago, has been linked with a move to Burnley in the past.

Like Sonner, McCarthy is a Northern Ireland international who has been dogged by injury of late, five years after moving to St Andrews from Port Vale where he really caught the eye.

All three players would potentially be targets for a club like Burnley but Stan Ternent has repeatedly stressed that his hands are tied at the moment by the continuing crisis in relation to television money.