Everyone I've spoken to who's seen him play in the Prem raves about him in terms of his talent. Coaches, managers, ex-players, also rave about his talent. It's not like he hasn't played Prem football before and looked good while doing it.
But he's like any other player. He has to earn a place here and it's not like we're talking about dropping anyone. Fleck's probably thinking that after three seasons this is the first time he won't walk back into the starting line up because of Freeman, Lundstram is defying all expectations, and Norwood is wearing the captain's armband.
It's not going to be easy for him to force a way through that and in a few ways that's a very good thing. One, we're only having this discussion about when he'll play because other players are doing the business - we aren't forced to throw him straight in because we're desperate for creativity. Two, if there's one thing it seems he needs to prove it's that he's willing to behave professionally and work hard - it's more of a test now than if he'd started every game, had no competition for his shirt, and didn't need to do his best. Three, it takes off a lot of the fan pressure because nobody's looking to Ravel thinking he's our only hope.