Keane’s Liverpool future secure - for now at least

“HE had a day off on Sunday like the rest of the players who were not involved in the game,” added Benitez.

“He trained on Monday, he trained today and he will be in the squad at Wigan. It is nothing to do with whether he talked to me about the situation. Every player has trained very hard this week, as has Robbie, and he will be in the squad. He will be in the squad and if he can score goals then I will be happy.

“He is expensive and high profile, yes. But Manchester United have plenty of players who cost £20m or more every single year. Sometimes more than one player. But nothing is said about them being left out.

“If you want to be in a top side then you must have this mentality. You have to accept that some players will play and some will not.”

Benitez added: “Robbie is a good player, we knew that when we signed him. Maybe he is not playing at his best level, but he wants to fight for his position. He must be available and ready for every game. To do that he must work hard and then if we consider he can give us something then we will use him, no problem.

“And I will be very pleased if Robbie can score goals. There has been no row, he is just one more player in the squad. Nothing is happening, we are just thinking of using him at Wigan.”

The Spanish coach has no injury worries for the Latics game. He said: “It doesn’t matter the name or the price, we have to think about the best player for each game.

“The manager and staff has to decide whether it is Torres, (Steven) Gerrard, (Dirk) Kuyt or Keane. We can see the players every single session.

“If we are to push for the title we will need all the players. A lot of clubs have been asking about some players [but] we do not want to lose players now if we cannot replace those players later. We need all of them for the race for the title.”