Jason Denayer has said that going out on loan is "not ideal" after he left Manchester City to join Sunderland after boss Pep Guardiola told him he wouldn't see much first-team action this season.
Denayer, 21, has not played a single game for City since being signed three years ago, and has previously been loaned out to Celtic and Galatasaray.
And centre-back, who was part of the Belgium squad at Euro 2016, was deemed surplus to requirements again this summer.
"Guardiola told me that he thinks I'm an interesting player. But I could not count on a lot of playing time and that I would be better loaned out," he told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.
"It's not ideal, every summer again going to another club."
Denayer has missed out on selection for the Belgium squad for this week's World Cup qualifiers with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Gibraltar.
National team boss Roberto Martinez has told him it is because he hasn't played regularly at centre-back for bottom-of-the-table Sunderland this season.
"Mr. Martinez has given me an explanation, yes," Denayer said. "He told me that I have not played my position too many matches in my club, so he did not find it ideal to name me in the squad. In the beginning I had difficulty with that decision."