Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Alberto Moreno took him by surprise with claims that he is unhappy with the lack of game time at Liverpool.
Moreno has slipped down the pecking order at Anfield, with Andy Robertson now first-choice left-back for the Premier League leaders.
And this week the Spaniard made his discontent known to Spanish radio station Onda Cero , stating that he believed the manager had mishandled the situation .
"I disliked the way that Klopp has treated me but I understand his situation that he can't change [Robertson] because the team is winning," Moreno said on Thursday.
In response, the former Dortmund boss insists he had seen no sign of unhappiness from his charge.
"Matt [McCann, press officer] told me about it! I’m still not prepared to say something to be honest," Klopp told a press conference. "How I deal with things like that is usually; my door is not always literally open, but it’s always open if somebody wants to talk.
"As long as they don’t talk to me, it doesn’t really exist!
“But that Alberto is not happy with not having too much minutes, it’s obvious. The more important thing is he never shows it in any training sessions, he’s a fantastic professional and trains really well when he can.
"The last couple of weeks he has had back problems and that kept him out of a lot of sessions. Yesterday was the first session it looked 100 per cent good again. That’s all.”
Liverpool now enter the New Year period six points ahead of nearest Premier League challengers Tottenham after a sparkling run of eight consecutive wins.
This week, however, sees Klopp's men take on fellow high-flyers Arsenal and Manchester City, and he is aware that the Reds can take nothing for granted despite that healthy lead.
“We don't think about the distance between us and other teams. It is too early," he added.
“To explain our situation, maybe, I’m not sure if we spoke about targets at the start of the season but it’s clear at a club like Liverpool you should go for Champions League qualification.
“We wanted to do it third time in a row, play better football, all that stuff. The only thing different to last year is our situation is better but we haven’t even qualified for the Champions League yet.
“We have to try and play football and get results like we want to do.”
