Valencia boss Nuno has revealed that Alvaro Negredo is not injured and has instead been left out of his latest Champions League squad "for sporting reasons".
The Spanish forward is not part of the Los Che squad that will face Gent in Group H on Tuesday, but it had been thought that the 30-year-old had picked up an injury.
That is not the case according to Nuno, however, who has said that the decision to omit Negredo was "made on sporting aspects".
"All the decisions about the squad are made on sporting aspects. There are players who sometimes repeat [their place in the squad] and others who miss out, but only for sporting reasons," AS quotes Nuno as saying.
"It's a long year, with a lot of competitions and everyone is going to be important. It's not the right time [for Negredo]. You have to make decisions that reflect the time. He wasn't called against Real Betis, then played the next three. It's happened with [Paco Alcacer]."
Negredo, who has only scored once for Valencia this season, recently admitted that he needs to improve his form after a slow start to the 2015-16 campaign.
Matt Law
