Unai Emery admitted Alejandro Garnacho is behind his teammates in the Aston Villa pecking order.
The Argentina international was left as an unused substitute during Villa's 3-1 victory over Coventry City in the Carabao Cup.
Despite Emery making seven changes to the Villans' starting XI following their defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend, Garnacho remained on the bench for the entire 90 minutes.
Johan Manzambi, Alysson, Nicolas Jackson and Emi Buendia were all brought on in the second half, but still no Garnacho.
Villa secured a comfortable win over their Premier League rivals after goals came from former Chelsea stars Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley.
The 22-year-old winger has now failed to make an appearance for three consecutive matches, and has only played 31 minutes of competitive action this season.
Following the match, the Villa boss openly admitted the former Manchester United star needs to work harder to be more involved.
He said: "[He has to] continue working. Work, work, train, work. When he can have minutes to play, try and play well.
"George [Hemmings] is playing fantastic, Alysson is also understanding things well and is giving us things I want.
"Alysson is also understanding things well and is giving us things I want. [Ibrahim] Mbaye also responded well. We want a competitive team and players to compete in the style we have.
"Garnacho is a little bit behind because of some circumstances we had in pre-season. It is time to be patient for the time he needs."
Mbaye made his full debut for the club, while Hemmings made his sixth successive start of the campaign.
Additionally, fellow summer recruits Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Matteo RuggeriÃÂ were all handed their first starts for Villa.
Pre-season disruption
Garnacho's start to life in Birmingham was severely disrupted by a facial injury during pre-season which forced him to miss the Super Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Prior to the defeat against Forest, Emery highlighted the Chelsea loanee's dedication.
He said: "His attitude is very important, he is getting the commitment we need to achieve it.
"Now he needs time. Time, hard work every day, and he is showing it with his attitude."
"Progressively, I am seeing him better. The most important thing is being consistent and demanding through the attitude he has.
"Then, I believe and I trust that he will achieve his best performance."
Villa have an agreement to sign Garnacho for an alleged ã42.5m if he reaches a set number of appearances.
Although the condition for an obligation to buy requires a limited number of appearances, Villa showed with Harvey Elliott they are prepared to limit player opportunities with loanees who arrive on this formula.
Last season, it was clear Emery didn't want to sign Liverpool's Elliott for ã35million which led to him not making the set amount of appearances.