Naby Keita has been the subject of several inches of media speculation this week following doubts about his future at Anfield and Jurgen Klopp has now been forced to respond to these rumours.
Speaking with the media ahead of the game against Manchester United, the 55-year-old said: ‘It’s really funny, when I have to respond on news because what you would learn if you sit on my side of the table is how often 0.0 is behind news.
‘Then you would think, ‘Oh, really? What can I believe at all when I read newspapers?’ So, no, nothing, absolutely nothing. Naby was ill for a week, last game on the bench, is fully in training, looks really good.
‘All fine. But not a player who is overly happy when he is not playing – should not be – but is completely fine, everything.
‘Nobody came to me and asked me about anything like that, apart from you obviously’.
It is amazing how these stories can come about, if the German is to be believed then there is absolutely no truth in the rumours and yet the media can create a story.
For this news to be broken by sources in Germany too, that should probably add some deal of skepticism because there is little reason for them to know before anyone in Liverpool.
With several injuries in our midfield already and with some supporters calling for further back-up to be added in that department, it seems very unlikely that we would allow the Guinean to leave.
Despite our No.8 entering the final year of his deal, there seems no reason to let anyone go in the final days of the window and put pressure on ourselves to get a replacement.
With confirmation that there’s ‘0.0%’ truth in the rumours though, this looks to be something that there’s little reason for anyone to worry about.