He is a good player, no doubting that, but will he play ahead of Ashley Cole. He won't so to be honest it's a total waste of a place.
I'd rather he played there than moving Lescott or Barry out of position. He's in the squad by virtue of us having no other credible left back choices but he had a good season.
He's an excellent left-back. It would be extremely risky to leave him behind in order to add cover to positions that already have it.