On the eve of their opening finals game against Wellington Phoenix tomorrow night, Adelaide were rocked by the demand from the key midfielder and his future now hangs in the balance.

The former fans favourite has been dropped from tomorrow's squad after Reid told Coolen he couldn't focus on the match.

The club now intends to hold talks with Sydney-born Reid, 31, over the weekend before making any further decisions.

"Everyone saw that Paul Reid was not here today," said Coolen at this morning's training session.

"The explanation for that is a couple of weeks ago, in the last days, there has been the chance for him to move to Sydney and join that squad which has qualified for the Champions League.

"We have qualified for the finals and it's a really important game so we told him that we don't allow him to go and I think everyone can understand - our club, our sponsors, our team, our supporters - he can't do that.

"We have to prepare ourselves for a big game, big games, so we can't lose him. He's important in our squad."

Coolen added: "He was really disappointed about that and he asked me not to pick him in the squad. He couldn't focus for the game.

"But that gives me a big problem and a big disappointment to be honest. I think it's not professional but at least I have to accept his question: If you're not focused on a game like that, you can't be in a team.

"That's what we explained this morning to the players so we have to focus on the training and that's what we did. 

"We did well today. We are ready tomorrow for the game. I will have a chat with Reid on Saturday, talk about the situation and see what we can do.

"We'll know more about it after the weekend."

Adelaide defender Cassio confirmed the playing group first heard of Reid's decision on Thursday morning when they were addressed by Coolen.

"To be honest I just knew this morning before training that Reidy wasn't here," said the Brazilian, who declared himself '100 percent' fit after being sidelined with a thigh strain since United's 1-0 loss to the Phoenix a fortnight ago.

"I don't know what's going on, I haven't spoken to Reidy or to the boys about what's going on. Everybody knows Reidy's a good player, but now we have to concentrate on the game … it's a final, an important game."

Sydney FC today refused to discuss the row.

A spokesman added: "Sydney FC won’t be making any comment on who we might or might not be signing."