I don't know what's going on behind the scenes but I don't think his appearances on the pitch this season have been sufficiently poor to be frozen out to this extent.
He hasn't set the world alight, and has obviously struggled with injuries and general fitness, and we all know the goalscoring situation. But he hasn't put in the kinds of stinkers that some of the more trusted players have, who've been given the luxury of playing themselves into form. He's largely looked reasonably solid and in his better performances he's been one of our better players.
So, okay, maybe there's a problem off the pitch. Could be anything and I don't really like to speculate. He could be acting like a total dickhead or he could just be struggling with some circumstances we don't know. Whatever.
At 29, he should be at the peak of his powers. There is a player in there with a future, even if it's not with us. He's a confidence player who is at his best when he feels needed and trusted and he's given some sort of regular game time. The longer he goes without getting that, the harder it's going to be and the longer it's going to take to get him up to speed.
So, fix the problem or move him on.
However small or injured the squad is, you're not getting any benefit from having a player who you never play. It's not good for the player or the squad for this continue - however nice a bloke he may be, he's obviously going to be miserable with this state of affairs and it'll affect morale.
He's an asset we paid £100m for. It's bad business to stick him on the bench for months. We're not getting anything out of him and we're driving down his resale price.