Antonio Conte has confirmed that Kvicha Kvaratskhelia has asked to leave Napoli in the January transfer window, just days after the Georgia winger was linked with a potential move to Liverpool.

The Reds are understood to be long-standing admirers of Kvaratskhelia and were named in connection with a possible deal by The Athletic on Thursday, should the Georgia international agitate for a move this month.

Despite the admiration of Kvaratskhelia's quality, however, Arne Slot currently has six senior players to choose from for his three-man attack with Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah, Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz all fit and ready for inclusion at present for the Premier League leaders.

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Diaz and Gakpo have been in competition for a place on the left of the front three all season and with Nunez and Jota also capable of operating in the position where Kvaratskhelia is best utilised, a transfer to Merseyside looks unlikely while Slot has such a wealth of attacking options already in his ranks. Paris Saint-Germain are said to be heading up the queue for the attacker, while Chelsea have also been named in connection with a deal, despite their own string of wide forwards.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Partenopei boss Conte explained that Kvaratskhelia, whose cotract runs until 2027, has asked to leave this month, describing the 23-year-old's transfer request as a "bolt from the blue".

“We are talking about an important player,” Conte said. “Last summer I spoke to the president and I wanted to have some technical certainties by demanding the confirmation of some important players.

“Even though he and others had asked to be sold, I worked on it and managed to keep who I wanted. Khvicha has asked the club to be sold. I am disappointed, I realised that it was a bolt from the blue and I am taking a step back.

“I would never want him to think that I have chained him here if he were to stay. I did it last summer thinking of convincing him of the goodness of the project but evidently I did not succeed. We are losing an important player.”

Conte added: "We haven't thought about how to replace him yet, it was a bolt from the blue and today the most important thing is tomorrow's match against Verona. It is right to leave the ball to the player's entourage and to the club."

"Personally I have to try to enhance the squad available, we can't chain anyone. In case he stays, he must know very well that it is a situation that I have not yet been able to resolve. The player knows that I pulled out."

Speaking about the speculation in his Friday press conference, Slot said: "When you said yourself 'linked with', I was thinking: 'Which club is he going to say now?' But you mean as a club we are linked with Kvaratskhelia.

"What I make of that is that this is January and I think I said it after the West Ham United game [to journalists], please don't disappoint me, please come up with all these players and all these clubs that are in the interest of us.

"Or the ones that don't play a lot for us are going to go somewhere else. That [speculation] is what is happening now. And nine out of 10 times or 99 out of 100 times, at the end of the window it's been clear that almost all of these stories weren't true. So what can I comment about it? The rumours keep going for it but no comment from my side."