Is it that baffling ? Would agree with you Pep has decided he is not able to do what we need him to and would gladly get rid but Phillips has a contract worth c£40m for his remaining 5 years and is happy to see it out as no other club would give him anywhere near that. Don't think the message could be any clearer from the management team he ain't getting picked ahead of Rodri and is too limited to sit alongside him. Think we would have to pay him a sizable sum to offload him so not gonna happen, he will sit on the bench and make occasional appearances and perhaps go on loan until we are happy to take the hit in our books.If there is 'more to it', surely news would have already emerged in the form of rumours regarding attitude problems, dressing room unrest, indiscipline etc. Aside from the one issue concerning his fitness following the world cup, all we know is that he's fully committed to the club. Regardless, Pep doesn't appear to trust him. Perhaps it's attributable to nothing other than a consistent failure to impress in training in which case City need to accept we signed a dud and move the lad on for his sake and ours. Either way, it's baffling.