Wilfried Bony has hit out at Stoke City manager Mark Hughes after dropping completely out favour at the Bet365 Stadium in recent months.
Stoke signed Bony from Manchester City at the start of the season on an initial season-long loan deal, and while he started the campaign in the starting XI, he has plummeted down the pecking order in recent months.
The 28-year-old hasn’t even been included in any of Stoke’s last four matchday squads and his first-team prospects have become even more limited since the arrival of Sadio Berahino in January.
“I want to know why I’m not playing,” Bony told The Daily Mirror. “It is really crazy when the people say you are fine and that everything is okay, but you don’t play.
“I have asked [Mark Hughes] and he says I am training well, my attitude is good and I don’t need to change that but why I don’t play, I don’t know.”
“Not good at the moment, because it is a crazy situation. The last time he says I need to be patient, but patient of what? I don’t know.
“I am not playing for no reason and since he spoke about the Chinese clause in my contract, I don’t play – it’s really strange.”
Bony hasn’t featured for Stoke since making a six-minute cameo in the club’s 4-1 defeat to Liverpool just after Christmas. Africa Cup of Nations duty with the Ivory Coast saw him only manage 20 minutes of football and the only goals he has managed for Stoke this season came in a 3-1 win over Swansea in October.
For more stats on Wilfried Bony, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
