Alex McLeish cannot understand why Matt Doherty is still struggling to play for Tottenham now that Nuno Espirito Santo is his manager.
They worked well for years at Wolves and Doherty was in top form for the Premier League club.
He was expected to return to that sort of form at Spurs now that Nuno Santo is his boss again, but the Republic of Ireland has surprisingly fallen further down the pecking order.
Spurs signed a new right back in the summer transfer window, but even before the arrival of Emerson Royal, Japhet Tanganga had been playing ahead of Doherty.
It now seems the full-back could eventually be shipped out of the club as Emerson continues to impress.
But the former Scotland manager is simply baffled that the wing-back still cannot make the Tottenham lineup under the same manager whom he thrived under at Wolves.
“It’s a kind of strange tale, the Doherty one,” McLeish told Football Insider.
“He is an energetic full-back, wing-back. I don’t know what’s happened.
“I’m baffled by that one, that Matt’s not featuring more.
“It can only be down that he is not at the right level at the moment.”
A January move might be the best option for Doherty if he truly cares about still playing football.