SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown felt it was inevitable Timothee Dieng would leave the Shrimpers this summer.

The Frenchman has now completed a switch to League Two side Exeter City.

And Brown was not surprised to see the 29-year-old moving on.

“What I witnessed of his mentality and attitude he’s certainly a League player,” said Brown.

“He’s League Two top end if not League One and good luck to him.

“There are no hard feelings and unfortunately when you get back to back relegations the consequence of that can be losing one of your better players.

“With Timothee Dieng I felt it was inevitable but for him to be considering us during the close season and some of pre-season was testament to maybe what he saw and witnessed in the last six games.”