'A player that wants to leave' - Slater slams Riera

Former Socceroo Robbie Slater has questioned Oriol Riera's commitment to Western Sydney Wanderers after a series of disappointing performances. 

The Spanish striker has failed to fire in his past three games and was unable to get any of his four shots on target against Melbourne Victory on Saturday.

Riera has been linked to a possible January move to Spain, with a second-division side seemingly interested, and Slater has stressed recent performances suggest something needs to change. 

“His body language is terrible,” Slater said on Fox Sports Sunday Shootout.

“Riera looks to me - disinterested - a player that wants to leave. Both the games I’ve watched his body movement, his work rate, he’s tried, but he’s tried in patches.

"Whatever he’s doing in his mind, and it is a mind thing, it’s affecting his game because he doesn’t look like he can score at the moment.

"The club need to sit down with Riera and say 'What’s the problem, do you really want to be here?'

"Because this Riera at the moment is not what the Wanderers deserve. He’s the marquee man, you’ve got to be getting better than that." 

The 32-year-old striker leads the A-League for shots this season with 43, seven more than any other player, but only has five goals to show for it.

Riera scored 15 times in his first campaign with the red and black but has struggled to shoulder the load so far this season with the Wanderers scoring the second fewest goals to date. 

While the Spaniard's run of form and future may be of some concern for fans, German teammate Alexander Baumjohann has backed Reira to fire sooner rather than later.

“We totally trust him that he will score again," Baumjohann said on Monday.

Wanderers coach Markus Babbel meanwhile was reluctant to point the finger at Riera on Saturday as he stressed his side's struggles in front of goal went deeper than one man. 

"It is not only the strikers. Everyone can score a goal," Babbel said.

"You can see we had two massive chances with our set pieces. It wasn't our strikers who could score a goal. This is a team problem at the moment."