Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez has admitted that his form this season has dipped, with injuries and formation changes not helping him to get the consistency he showed during 2015-16.
Saul's displays last season led him to be linked with a number of Europe's top clubs, with Manchester United regularly spoken of as a potential destination for a player who last summer signed a new Atletico contract, which runs until 2021 and contains an €80 million release clause.
However, his 2016-17 campaign has not gone as smoothly, with a number of niggling injury issues and coach Diego Simeone choosing to leave him on the bench from time to time even when available.
"This season I have been lacking consistency," Saul told Marca. "Some games I have played well, others no. Last season I finished off playing a number of games at a high level, this year I am not getting that consistency.
"There are many reasons. I have also had injuries, I sometimes played with pain or an injection. Sometimes that makes you lose your confidence and you have to start again from zero."
This season has seen fellow midfielder Koke's exact position on the field come up for discussion, which has also had a knock-on effect on whether Saul has got to play in his favoured central role or out wide.
"These are things that the boss decides, in some games Koke plays in the centre and me out wide, or on the bench," Saul said. "The good thing about players like us is that we can play in many positions, we try and do the best possible wherever we are picked.
"[Last year] we were four midfielders playing in a line across the centre of the pitch, but this season it is different. Personally when I play in the centre I feel more comfortable, as I have always said. But the decision is down to the boss."
Saul also said that Simeone's side, which have slipped to sixth in La Liga, are looking to regain the solidity which made them so hard to beat in previous seasons.
"The opposition teams are well prepared, they have taken points off us, something we did not expect," he said. "But we are good, working hard and looking forward. The only thing which has really changed are the statistics.
"We try to be just as solid in defence, but we have conceded more goals. There have been some individual mistakes, but we are working hard as a team to get that solidity back."