James Tarkowski refused to play for Brentford in their 3-1 defeat to Burnley on Friday night and Dean Smith is unsure what will happen next.
The Bees produced an abject first-half performance and suffered a heavy defeat thanks to fine goals from Scott Arfield, Joey Barton and George Boyd.
Brentford produced a better second half performance with Alan Judge scoring a consolation effort but the story of the evening was what was going on with the central defender.
Below are the questions and answers from Smith's post-match press conference regarding the 23-year-old Tarkowski and his future.
Question: Are you disappointed with Tarkowski situation?
Dean Smith: “The club have made a statement and it's a statement we stand by.”
Club statement: "James Tarkowski will be the subject of internal disciplinary action after telling Head Coach Dean Smith that he did not wish to play against Burnley in tonight’s Sky Bet Championship match.
"Following discussions with Smith, Tarkowski declared himself unavailable for the fixture despite being selected in the starting line-up. As a result of these actions, he will be disciplined by the club.
"Any resulting sanction will remain confidential and the Club will make no further comment on potential punishment.
"Tarkowski has been the subject of transfer bids during the current January Transfer Window but none have matched the Club's valuation of the player. In fact, all recent bids have been substantially lower than one that was rejected last year."
Q: What happened?
DS: “James came to my office and said he didn't want to play. I told him I thought he was making a mistake and he'd been misguided.
“I like the lad and we all make decisions we sometimes regret and he'll regret it. It's one of those things and we'll move on.”
Q: When was it?
DS: “It was before training. I said, okay you better go home then.
Q: Have you experienced it before?
DS: “It's pretty new to me. I think most days in management you get something new.”
What happens next?
DS: “James said he didn't want to play in today's game. After that, who knows. We'll have an internal meeting and find out where we go with it and meet up with James as well.”
Q: Has his agent affected him?
DS: “That's a question for James. I spoke to him and that was it. He's a really good kid and it did surprise me and it's one of those things.”
Q: What about the timing of the bids?
DS: “I'm not sure. You'll have to ask James. I said yesterday that the timing of the bids haven't been great.
“It's a disappointing saga when we should be concentrating on the games. I've never said nobody is for sale. We've got a value for players and people have to meet the valuation.”
Q: Did it affect their performance in the first-half?
DS: “I'm not going to make any excuse for the first half performance. The team knew about it yesterday. They knew everything that had happened. All his team-mates got on with their job.”
Q: What message do you have for the fans?
“The football club can control what it can control. We've made a statement on it and it was made for the fans to understand what had happened. We tried to be as transparent as we can but young men are involved in this.”
