He doesn't need to play, he's been playing for 2 years and it's put him further down the pecking order as he's seen the likes of Rico and bobb stay here not play and now they're playing ahead of him.
He needs to be around the team daily, accept he's probably not going to feature but take on board everything he needs to do to get himself to the level where he can make it here and show pep that in training. He's never going to show that playing elsewhere, no matter how well he does he'll always have to then show Pep.
In pre-season he said he needs to be here even if he's not playing much, i took that to mean he knows thats his path, loan players generally don't come back and go straight into the side.
we've got a big midfield overhaul looming, 33 yr old kdb, 34 yr old gundogan, 30 year olds bernardo and kovacic are all going to have to be replaced in the next few windows so there's an opportunity for him on the horizon, best thing he can do is take the cameo role this season, make an impression in training and put himself next in line so he takes one of those replacement spots.
If we sell him. He's never coming back