Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes says Adel Taarabt remains in his plans but wants the Moroccan to earn a first-team place.
Former Tottenham midfielder Taarabt was a key figure as QPR gained promotion to the English Premier League in the 2010/11 campaign, scoring 19 goals in 44 Championship appearances.
He made 24 league starts last term and has not featured since the west London outfit s 5-0 opening day defeat to Swansea.
Hughes was keen to underline the 23-year-old s importance to the squad, and he challenged Taarabt to make it impossible to leave him out.
On the first day of the season we were beaten at home quite comprehensively, and I made changes, Hughes told the Times.
Those changes affected Adel. But he s very well thought of here, this is the best place for him and he will get games.
He has to bide his time like a number of other players do. There are a number of players waiting to get a run in the team, and they will get that run.
They just need to keep on focusing on working hard on training and making it difficult to leave them out of the team.
