Tony Pulis insists sidelined Nacer Chadli is 'very good professional'

The Belgian hasn't played a single minute of Premier League football so far this season after refusing to go to the club's gruelling fitness camp.

But Pulis insists his relationship with Chadli hasn't suffered since then, and maintains that the decision for him to stay was a mutual one.

"I don't think it was a refusal (to go)," he said. "Jonny Evans did it the year before, it was the fact they finished a lot later than everyone else and needed a break.

"Chadli is a very good professional, he looks after himself extremely well.

"Along with a lot of players today, especially the foreign players, he has his own fitness advisors and coaches.

"Chadders's argument was a fair argument. As a manager, in the modern game, you have to sit down and talk to these players.

"They're a lot more upstanding in their knowledge about what they need and want in respect of fitness. That was fine from Chads."

The Baggies boss was planning to play the former Spurs man away at Brighton before he reported a muscle strain on the Thursday beforehand.

He returned from injury on Monday night, when he played 45 minutes for the under-23s while the first team took on Arsenal.

Pulis is unlikely to start Chadli against Watford this Saturday because he wants him to rediscover match sharpness during the international break with Belgium.

But he played down the notion of a rift between him and the club's record signing, and said the decision for Chadli to skip Austria was a mutual one.

"I'll make the final decision, but if I go with him and say that's not a bad idea, that's being the boss as well," he said.

"Evans was the same the year before, he needed a bit more time, we gave it to him.

"There's been lots of situations in my career when I've sat down and had a chat with players and gone their way, and there's been lots of occasions when I haven't gone their way.

"Sometimes you have to go with it, and that's part of management, especially modern day management. He's been brilliant, he's been fantastic."