Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has warned Giannelli Imbula that he could be playing for his future between now and the end of the season.
Imbula joined the Potters from Porto for a club-record fee of £18.3m just over a year ago, but he has struggled to settle in England and has not started a Premier League match since December.
Hughes acknowledged that the 24-year-old's form has been disappointing, but insists that any decision over his future will not be made before the summer amid reports that the club are ready to offload the midfielder.
"It's fair to say he has struggled this year in terms of having an impact and that's unfortunate. But any decision on any player will not be made during the season," he told reporters.
"He had a bright start when he first came in, but it's about a consistent level of performance and he has struggled to maintain that to be honest. We feel there is more to come from him from a football point of view and we will try and bring that out of him.
"I would really have liked him to have grabbed his opportunity to stay in the team and that hasn't happened. But he has still got time between now and the end of the season to get more games and hopefully impress."
Imbula has played just seven minutes of Premier League football since the turn of the year.
Barney Corkhill
