Player complains I'm playing him "out of position"

Striker wants to have a chat about me playing him "out of position". I'm playing him as an Advanced Forward, he's a striker, he's rated 4 stars as an AF...and his player rating is 7.64 with 8 goals in 12 games. When I "instant result" the game, apparently he's sometimes moved to MC (where he's not favored, but he's still averaging a 7.4). I don't know what he's complaining about, he's getting regular play, he's rating 2nd-highest on the team, and we're in 1st place.

When I talked to him, I responded "we're kind of stretched at the moment, and with problems in other areas of the team, you're getting regular play", and he responds "That's not the response I'm looking for and I'm disappointed you won't consider changing things"...how about I send you to the reserves, that'd be a change now, wouldn't it? *sigh*...I really hate the player interactions this year.

What does his player position screen say?

Is he natural as a ST? What about other positions?

Another area to look at is his player information tab and see what he is described as. Its possible its a bug that needs reporting but its also possible some fluke combination of factors have combined.

Is there maybe a mechanic at work that a striker who's played out of position, recognizes the fact that he's likely to score fewer goals, and thus less likely to get that bumper payday based on that?

I don't see the problem here - he's a striker, often being played in CM, and he doesn't like it.

Are you using instant result in FMC or a TP skin in FM?

If it's FMC then raise it as a bug, if it's FM then that's unfortunate but as instant result isn't supported in FM it's hardly surprising.