Missing men: 6 players banished by their headstrong managers

Much has been made of the box-office bosses that now populate the Premier League, but their bristly natures or sarcasm have yet to target the media - or one another.

Instead, certain players they've inherited have fallen foul of their stubborn philosophies.

Here are six players that haven't done enough to earn the trust of Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Ronald Koeman, and Jose Mourinho - some before they've even kicked a ball:

Joe Hart

Just 45 minutes of a preseason friendly against Arsenal was enough for Guardiola to deem Joe Hart unfit for a role between the sticks. Claudio Bravo, 33, was drafted in as his £15.4-million-plus replacement and Hart, with options limited at the end of the transfer window, opted for an 11th-hour loan to Serie A's Torino.

"Football is a game of opinions and some people have a great opinion of me and some people probably think I'm absolutely useless," Hart said in early October. "Unfortunately for me, one of the guys' opinions in charge of my club at the time wasn't as strong as it needed to be."

After 10 years and five major trophies with City, Hart has been left to take his apparently inadequate footwork overseas. Bravo, meanwhile, has shown an assurance in possession that Hart lacked, but has also made costly errors.

Cesc Fabregas

Considering the high-octane wing-back game Conte has used at Siena, Juventus, and Italy, it's no great surprise that some of Chelsea's ageing legion has struggled to make the cut under the wily Italian.

Branislav Ivanovic is a shadow of his former swashbuckling self, and would flounder if deployed in either the back three or in the demanding wing-back role currently occupied by reinvigorated Victor Moses. But, considering his vastly reduced speed and stiffening limbs, he was going to be dumped by whoever took the Stamford Bridge helm.

Perhaps the greatest surprise, then, is Cesc Fabregas, whose only start this term was a sorry 55-minute showing in a 3-0 loss to Arsenal. The partnership of Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante is blossoming in the deep midfield positions, setting up an additional hurdle for the Spaniard, but his dwindling pace and occasional dwelling in possession simply doesn't do it for Conte.

Morgan Schneiderlin

Louis van Gaal brought Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United in the summer of 2015 after the France international was such a calming presence in the Southampton midfield for seven years. He also offered the chance to rid the United lineup of Marouane Fellaini's unwieldy hair and flailing elbows.

Instead, the 26-year-old has just five Premier League minutes this term while Fellaini has 603. Mourinho simply hasn't bothered including Schneiderlin in his largely fruitless attempts to find an adequate alternative to Ander Herrera beside Paul Pogba.

Rather than Schneiderlin being a casualty of philosophy, this could just be a rank oversight by Mourinho.

Yaya Toure

Breathless. Dedicated. Versatile. Inventive. Guardiola's system has aspects you wouldn't necessarily associate with the leaden-footed dawdling of Yaya Toure.

Toure's agent, Dimitri Seluk, hasn't exactly helped Toure's starting claims with his media-hungry Guardiola baiting, but it's unlikely the Ivorian was going to slide into the Spaniard's plans anyway.

The box-to-box, swashbuckling play of Ilkay Gundogan, or Toure loitering in his slippers?

It's an easy choice.

Oumar Niasse

Oumar Niasse's £13.5-million move from Lokomotiv Moscow in the last January transfer window was a bolt from the blue, but it had some justification based on the fact he was terrorising defences in Russia for the first half of the 2015-16 season.

But fitness issues saw him drop down Roberto Martinez's pecking order, and since Ronald Koeman's takeover, Niasse has been the invisible man. There must have been something in Everton training that didn't take the Dutchman's fancy, because Niasse has just been with the reserves under his watch.

"I'm in the dressing room with the under-23s but I don't have a locker," Niasse told the Guardian's David Hynter in October. "The other players have where they put their stuff but I don't. I come with my bag and I just have a place I know. I put my bag down, I train and after, I put everything in my car and go home."

Daniel Sturridge

When fit and confident, Daniel Sturridge poses a decent argument for being one of the Premier League's most potent finishers. Nevertheless, under Klopp he faces a tough task in breaking the starting XI.

The front three of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane have embraced the German gaffer's teachings, closing down defenders at every opportunity, maintaining concentration, and galloping forward at breakneck speed on counter-attacks.

Unfortunately for Sturridge, his propensity to occasionally switch off or wander has seen his minutes dwindle on Merseyside.

His predicament actually asks a big question of Klopp and the Anfield hierarchy: sell him on to a potential English or continental rival, or have an unhappy, albeit talented, player to introduce from the bench?