Albion boss Oscar Garcia has urged the club to solve the Liam Bridcutt saga as swiftly as possible.

Oscar wanted the fit-again midfielder in his squad for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Derby County.

Bridcutt still a transfer target for Sunderland, has recovered from a groin injury and trained with the first team at The Amex on Friday morning.

But he later told the management staff he was not in the right frame of mind to play and did not make the trip to the East Midlands.

Oscar told The Argus: “The sooner we solve this the better it will be for the team.

“It’s a problem between him and the club. My job is to have most of the players, or all of the players, fit enough to play, to train with them and to improve them. “We spoke with him and he was honest. He said what he said and that’s it. All the players that played were focused on the game and gave 100 per cent. That is the most important thing for me.”

Asked if the club should take disciplinary action against Bridcutt, Oscar said: “I don’t know. I want to be focused on the players that want to play and want to fight for the team.”

Substitute Patrick Bamford’s second-half goal for Derby knocked Albion straight back out of the Championship play-off zone into seventh, two points adrift of Reading.

“I think we played really well against the top scoring team in the league,” Oscar said. “They only created one half-chance but they scored. That was the difference.”