He obviously has talent and quality, some lovely touches, etc... and he's such a likeable lad, but I have to be honest, I just don't know where this lad's future is.
It's clear as day he isn't a 9, he doesn't have that instinct of getting on the end of crosses or anticipates the ball coming in from wide areas, that's fair.
But then we try him in midfield, which he looks more suited to, but I just can't help but feel we are comparing him to what we have seen as a lone striker, as opposed to comparing him with other lads in the team. For example, during tonight's game, I thought what would happen if Miley, Bruno, etc... were fit, where would Nick be? In my opinion, he would be on the bench as he isn't better than those players or Tonali or Joelinton. A 69m player on the bench, as a midfield option when we needed/wanted/still need a striker, I think it's too an expensive luxury to have unfortunately.
It's sad because I like the guy but I just don't see a need for him in a midfield position where he can drift in and out the game and then put more defensive burden on the likes of Bruno or Tonali, in a midfield, which let's face it, has been exploited hundreds of times in the last few seasons with space between the midfield and defence, and that's playing 3 mobile midfields.
It really is a conundrum but I just don't think his skill set is what we need right now, and I don't think we can afford to change system to suit 1 guy.
