Aston Villa striker Ross McCormack has reportedly been suspended by Melbourne City.
McCormack, who is currently on loan at the Australian A-League side, was a surprise exclusion from Melbourne's squad for their match against Brisbane Roar last week.
The club put his absence down to an Achilles injury.
But the Herald Sun claim the 31-year-old missed the 3-1 defeat because he had been served an internal club suspension by manager Warren Joyce.
McCormack is alleged to have arrived late to training ahead of the match and was subsequently left out of the squad by Joyce.
The Scottish forward could return to contention for Melbourne's clash with Perth on Friday. He has scored four goals in six games.
He joined the club on a three-month loan at the end of September after dropping down the pecking order at Villa but could stay on until the end of the season which finishes in April.
Speaking about his future earlier this month, McCormack told Fox Sports: “My two kids are still living in London and I won’t be seeing them until I go back.
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“Maybe they can come out at Christmas, hopefully, but it’s a tough one.
“Never say never (on a permanent move).
“I don’t know if it’s possible with Bruno coming back soon so we just need to see.
“Essentially it depends on how I do - if I start scoring goals and do well then there’ll be a chance of me staying.
“If I don’t, then I daresay Melbourne wouldn’t want me to stay!”
Tim Cahill, the former Everton midfielder, is also said to have found himself in hot water with Joyce – with the pair's relationship described as being 'at breaking point'.
Xia blasts 'Villa haters'
Xia took to Twitter today to blast his critics for going 'extremely ugly' and has suggested the slurs have already had a knock-on effect for some of his business interests.
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Aston Villa's owner signed off his tweet with the hashtag #OnlyBeStronger.
He tweeted: "Some Villa haters went extremely ugly by spreading rumors around saying I was caught in trouble and escaped away, made the public listed companies' minor shareholders panic to drop stocks. It's really ugly for those deliberately trying to destroy others. #OnlyBeStronger."
Xia is currently in England on his latest trip over from his native China. He was at Loftus Road for Villa's win over Queens park Rangers on Saturday and witnessed last night's Villa Park victory over Sunderland which lifted Steve Bruce's men to fourth in the Championship table.
Xia took over Villa from former owner Randy Lerner in the summer of 2016.
Steve Bruce on the Sunderland win
Goals from Albert Adomah and Josh Onomah set up another win for Aston Villa to take them up to fourth place.