Players come off contract on April 1 and North has been released early with Wellington's season now over following defeat in Adelaide.

Herbert revealed that the Socceroos defender would fly to Japan this week to explore options there.

"Asia was always going to be of interest to him (North) so we're happy to let him go," Herbert told The Dominion Post.

"We knew he'd probably want to go abroad and he's going there to give it a shot so we needed to release him."

However, Herbert hopes youngster Rojas will remain and hopes the player will take into account the loyalty factor when coming to a decision.

Herbert added: "It's not a financial thing because we've said that's always an open discussion. It's not the term of the contract, because we're flexible.

"It comes down to whether the player wants to be loyal to the club."