Comment: Is there a way back for Nacer Chadli at West Brom?

A record signing who has already cost the club £18m, he is arguably up there with Grzegorz Krychowiak as the most gifted ball player in the squad.

However, the Belgian is currently on the fringes of the team, not yet in complete exile, but not where he could be, which is front and centre as the poster boy.

He was on the bench for yesterday's 2-2 draw with Watford, but remained an unused substitute as Tony Pulis opted for Jake Livermore's steel instead of Chadli's guile in the second half.

Pulis insists his relationship with Chadli has not deteriorated, and has maintained, in public at least, that it was a mutual decision taken by the pair to let him skip the week-long slog up the Austrian hills.

He says the former Tottenham man is still in his plans, a diamond of a player who he needs to fit into his line-up once he’s rediscovered his match sharpness.

The problem is that, until he actually picks the Belgian, fans will not believe it, and they have every right to be sceptical.

This is exactly the same lip service Pulis paid to Saido Berahino at this point last season when the striker was beginning his descent into an exile he never returned from.

Just like Chadli, Berahino was given time in the under-23s to regain his fitness, and just like Chadli, he was allowed to travel to the continent to see specialists.

They are two wholly different situations, of course, and there is no suggestion that Chadli is causing nearly as many headaches as Berahino did with his social media outbursts and eight-week drugs ban.

It’s also worth taking into account the fact Pulis was going to play Chadli away at Brighton before the Belgian reported a muscle strain two days beforehand.

"I'm disappointed he's been injured, because he is important to us," said Pulis, this week. "But he's really knuckled down and worked hard.

"He had the option to come with us to London (for the Arsenal game) or get 45 minutes in (with the U23s).

"I thought 45 minutes would be best for him because he needs game time. He was happy as anybody to get it done. He's come in and trained really well."

However, the fact remains that Chadli is yet to play a minute of Premier League football this season, and the timing of that injury has only inflamed the conspiracy theories.

Is Pulis punishing Chadli for skipping Austria? Is Chadli finding any way not to play for Pulis?

Or is it neither? Just a coincidental injury the Belgian will recover from before returning to the line-up.

Pulis insists it’s the latter, but even if it’s not, it’s only understandable the head coach would want to protect the inner workings of his changing room.

He won’t want every cough and splutter plastered over the papers, especially if he thinks there is a way back into the fold for the talented 28-year-old.

The Welshman says Chadli still has a major role to play, but this week it felt like he was buying himself time.

Instead of complaining about the international break, as he usually does, he said it would benefit his team, and Chadli in particular.

“Hopefully he goes away with Belgium and gets some game time,” said Pulis, delaying the questions over why he wasn't picked for another week or two.

The worry is that Pulis is merely filibustering until January, when he will try and off-load Chadli again. Despite what he says about hoping to get the record signing into his team, the Baggies boss was more than willing to sell him in the summer.

It’s been a frustrating journey to this point for both men. Last season Chadli started like a house on fire, scoring four goals in his first five games.

But a knee injury that required surgery stopped him in his tracks and, when he returned, he struggled to regain the form from that initial burst.

He still played an important part in a successful middle third of the campaign, but towards the end of the season he was incredibly wasteful in front of goal as confidence and form dipped.

His sympathisers would argue Pulis asked him to do too much defensive work on the left wing in a rigid structure that was stifling his creativity.

But in all his years of management Pulis has never asked for anything different from his players, the Belgian should have realised who he was going to work for.

And it’s not like Chadli wasn’t given opportunities to score, to be the hero, to be the main man. He just missed them.

Perhaps more problematic is his standing among his team-mates. Managers turn to those forgotten men in time of need, just look at Oumar Niasse.

But Chadli needs to repair his reputation with the rest of the squad, because they were all willing to run up Austrian hills until they felt sick when he was not.

Pulis insists there is no problem, saying: "They like Chadli, he's got a dry sense of humour, he's integrated well with them."

By no means is the Belgian's Albion career in tatters, he has not fallen as far as Berahino had; a couple of decent performances and all of this will be forgotten.

But team spirit has been one of this team’s calling cards over the past two seasons thanks to Pulis picking the right characters who are willing to work to his tune.

The concern is that Chadli, after a blistering start, doesn’t like the music any more.