I think you have a point about the fitness issue. But he also wasn't tracking back when he came on as a sub. Simple things like when out wide, letting his man make a unopposed run after an attack fizzled out. That wouldn't be accepted from AK, JI or SM. That's not down to fitness - that's down...
No, it's down to actually down to him failing to press and failing to back track multiple times last season when he made some appearances, either up front or out wide. At the time he didn't look like a Chris Hughton sort of player at all.
Hopefully Chris has sorted him out over pre-season and...