Jean-Kevin Augustin has been dropped from Nantes' first-team squad due to a lack of fitness.
The striker was on loan at Leeds United from RB Leipzig last season but managed just three substitute appearances due to injury as he struggled to integrate into Marcelo Bielsa's squad.
An obligation to buy Augustin permanently if Leeds won promotion was included in the loan deal from Leipzig but, due to the coronavirus lockdown, the Whites considered the clause to have expired by the time they sealed a return to the Premier League.
It started a legal battle between Leipzig and Leeds over whether the obligation to purchase the 23-year-old was still valid, with the Bundesliga club no longer considering the PSG youth product their player.
That left Augustin without a proper pre-season before he signed with Nantes in October, with both Leipzig and Leeds relinquishing any claim they had over the player's registration.
He has managed just three substitute appearances that have totalled around 34 minutes and failed to find the back of the net.
Get French Football News have now reported that Nantes have left Augustin out of their first-team set-up over a lack of fitness.
Manager Christian Gourcuff has claimed the striker's lack of pre-season has cost him heavily as he tries to make an impact at his new club.
Gourcuff said: "We have now left him out of team training so that he can reach an acceptable level of fitness.
"He is following an individual fitness regime this week with fitness coach Cyrille Moine and that will still be the case next week.
"We integrated him, but we saw that he was not at a sufficient level.
"His lack of pre-season has penalised him so much that he can not be competitive."
