Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel admits he can't explain the career slide of Ross Barkley.
He does not even have a Premier League squad number this year under boss Tuchel, who says Barkley should also be confused about his recent decline.
Blues boss Tuchel said: “He is also asking himself the same questions and maybe all of us here, to be honest, don't have the answers.
“I'm sure that he worries a lot about the situation.
“'How can it come so far that right now I'm like in between the chairs and don't really know where I belong and what my role is?'.
“Normally you expect somebody who goes on loan from Chelsea to Aston Villa to be the main guy at Villa. Then he comes back and takes the next steps. This has not happened, so maybe there is a long way to go, but you never know.
“What I did say was, 'Stay humble, get it off your shoulders, all the opinions, all the expectations from everybody, all the past, what could have been, if I did this, if I did that . . .'
“At the moment he is part of the training group. Now it's most important that he accepts the situation.
“He does not have to love the situation but he needs to accept it in a positive way."
Tuchel added: “He has the ability but this is not enough.
“I saw so many players who can train on certain levels but there is so much more to it, to becoming a regular Premier League top player.
“So let's see. It's never too late and I will give him the support that I can. We need to wait and have patience."
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