Andy Hinchcliffe has urged Jamie Paterson not to burn any bridges with Swansea City amid his contract dispute with the club's owners.
The 30-year-old has been a pivotal figure for the Swans since joining as a free agent in the summer after being released by Championship rivals Bristol City.
His contract was recently extended by 12 months, although Paterson - who has eight goals and four assists in 22 league outings this season - is unhappy that his terms were not improved.
As a result, he has not been in the right frame of mind to feature in Swansea's Championship matches against Huddersfield Town, Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers.
And former player-turned-pundit Hinchcliffe says the situation regarding Paterson urgently needs to be resolved.
"It is tricky. He's been Swansea's standout individual. Russell Martin going there, the way that Russell wants to play, he's very much looking to build a team," Hinchcliffe said on the Sky Sports EFL podcast.
"If one of those players isn't happy and clearly his contract situation and financial situation is playing on his mind and is saying 'I'm playing as well as I've ever done and maybe I do deserve more money', that seemingly is the problem.
"But you've got to keep that contact going. You don't want to fall out and not speak to the coach and players. It doesn't help anybody.
“I know there’ll be plenty of other Championship clubs looking at Jamie Paterson and thinking, 'yeah he’ll really work for us' but it’s a situation that needs to get resolved.
“Either the club says, 'well clearly if you’re not in the right frame of mind, how long is that going to last for because if we can get you feeling OK and in our team we are going to give ourselves a real chance of climbing the league'.
“So it’s a difficult situation, ultimately the club and the player, the coach and the player have to try and thrash something out, but at the moment, it certainly doesn’t look good. It must be a worry for Swansea fans."
Swansea have already recruited Hannes Wolf on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach while they are keeping a close eye on Manchester City youngster James McAtee.
Russell Martin is determined to add to his forward options in the final days of the January transfer window.
Speaking after his side's 0-0 draw with QPR, the head coach said: "They [attackers] just need a bit of help. We have a lot of games coming up.
"I've got nothing but pride for what we've got, but we just need a little bit of help in certain areas."
And commentator Daniel Mann has suggested that the arrival of Wolf shows the Swans are already planning for the possible departure of Paterson - who has 18 months left to run on his contract.
"It does seem a very strange situation that they wouldn't be aware what would happen in the case of the option being triggered," Mann said on Paterson's contract situation.
"For Russell Martin, it is a very difficult one because I think he had the rug pulled out from underneath him a bit with Ethan Laird's departure, having been there on loan, and he's gone off to Bournemouth. I don't think Russell was aware of what was happening there as early as he should have been.
"We all have these situations in our lives where things potentially don't happen at work as you feel they might. You've either got to just get on with it or find a way out and maybe that's what Jamie Paterson is going to do.
"They've brought in Hannes Wolf who looks like a very good signing, potentially. He certainly was impressive at RB Salzburg, maybe not had quite as much joy with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
"He will be an interesting capture, and maybe, in that sense, there's already a degree of preparation for life without Jamie going on."
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