Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford has confirmed he is cutting short his "terrible" loan spell at Crystal Palace in search of regular first-team football elsewhere.
Bamford moved to Selhurst Park on a season-long deal last summer but has failed to make a single Premier League start under Alan Pardew, despite injuries to more established first-teamers such as Fraizer Campbell, Connor Wickham, Dwight Gayle and Yannick Bolasie this season.
The 22-year-old came on as a half-time substitute for Marouane Chamakh and missed a good chance during Palace's goalless draw with Swansea City on Monday, before confirming to reporters that he will exercise a clause in his loan agreement that allows him to return to Stamford Bridge in January.
"That was my last game for Palace," Bamford told reporters. "If I were being honest, it has been terrible. No one wants to sit on the bench and not play.
"Obviously things haven't worked out for whatever reason. I would have been more content if I had been given a chance and not taken it.
"I wouldn't say it has been a waste of time. That would be a bit harsh. I have learned things from the gaffer -- playing with people like Yohan [Cabaye] and the other players in the team. You can always learn something.
"It was my first stint in the Premier League properly. It was a learning curve and we will see what happens next."
Bamford joined Chelsea in a £1.5 million deal from Nottingham Forest in January 2012 and established a reputation as one of England's most promising young goal scoring talents during loan spells with MK Dons, Derby County and Middlesbrough, and he insists his decision to leave Palace early is borne out of his desire to take the next step in his development.
"I haven't started a game in the Premier League," he added. "For a young player like me that is not what you need. So I have had to take my development into course and make it a priority.
"It was my decision. The coaches have just found out - I have told them I am going. I think the manager and the coaching staff already knew. But the physios and coaching staff I have just let them know and said bye now. I had to do it because I haven't been playing and for my development, it is crucial that I play games.
"There were a few reasons [given to him for not playing] but I kind of saw through them. I was frustrated because there weren't many strikers scoring. Connor [Wickham] only scored his first goal last week.
"As a striker it might be short-sighted of me, but scoring goals is a striker's job. If you are not playing and the other strikers are not scoring and you are not getting a chance, it was like pulling my hair out. That was a bit frustrating for me.
"Having watched the games, I know I can fit in at this level. It is difficult when you are not playing and you come in for five minutes here or there, 20 minutes there, don't play for a couple of weeks.
"You don't really get a run and for a striker it is important to get a run of games. If you have seen me play at all the other levels, whenever I have played, I have never been out of the team for longer than a game. That has shown with the goals as well."
Asked whether he would consider another stint at a Championship club until the end of the season, Bamford replied: "I have got to be open to all options. Ideally I want to stay in the Premier League and I think they are a few options to stay there. Now it is about assessing which is best and we will go from there."
Bamford's goalless nine-game stint with the Eagles now looks at an end, despite manager Pardew insisting Palace had yet to talk to Chelsea about the player's future.
"Strikers will always tell you they need five games," said Pardew of Bamford's form. "Managers ain't got time for five games. You've got to come in and do it. But that chance was normally one he would take.
"Patrick nine times out of 10 would have buried that and we'd have got three points. But I can't be disappointed.
"Maybe he just needs that goal to give him that spark that strikers need."
When asked if Chelsea would recall Bamford in January, Pardew added: "I think it's a conversation we'll have to have with Chelsea for sure, but we haven't had it yet."
Eagles boss Pardew branded referee Neil Swarbrick's booking of Cabaye as a "terrible decision."
Midfielder Cabaye will now miss Palace's home Premier League clash with Chelsea on Sunday, owing to his fifth yellow card of the campaign.
Pardew admitted he hopes missing strikers Dwight Gayle, Bakary Sakho and Conor Wickham can quickly find fitness, to boost his side's stretched resources.
"I thought it was a terrible decision by the referee to book [Cabaye]," he added. "Swansea got their shape very, very quickly and the game never really opened up. But we've got 31 points after 18 games: wow. That's fantastic for us. Now we've got to hope some of our strikers come back to us.
"You could tell it was our second game in three days. We lacked a bit of imagination and flair. The discipline was spot-on, but that little spark, that little edge, we didn't have that today.
"We'll certainly miss Yohan against Chelsea, because he's a great player for us. So we'll have to manage without him."