Scotland coach Gordon Strachan is baffled by Alan Hutton's situation at Aston Villa.
Hutton was loaned to Nottingham Forest and Real Mallorca last season but, despite Strachan rating him among the Premier League's best right-backs, he has been unable to secure a permanent move.
"He's been brilliant," said Strachan. "It's a mystery of football, how he's not getting a game somewhere.
"I look at other games in the Premier League, look at right backs and go, 'He's better than them'.
"I just think the club game misses his marauding runs.
"It's very strange he's not playing Premier League football because the games he's played for us recently have been outstanding.
"It must be hard for him to look over at the first-team training at Villa. I'm sure Paul's not doing that deliberately. There's sometimes only a certain amount of players you want to work with.
''Some players say they've been confined to the reserves when that's not really the case.
"It may just be the manager wants to work with 16 players and he's No.20, so it's not a case of being banished."
