Villarreal defender Alberto Moreno admits Liverpool pushed hard for him to stay.

Moreno has revealed he turned down a five-year contact extension at Liverpool back in 2019.

“In my fifth year, I was offered to renew, for another five years. I said no. We'd had many years in England," Moreno told El Periodico Mediterraneo.

"I have three children and spoke with my wife, and we decided that the best thing was to return to Spain. I just wanted to go back to Spain."

Moreno admits manager Jurgen Klopp retained faith in him but couldn't justify bringing him back in for Robertson.

"They were beautiful years, but strange things also happened and others where I had bad luck," he claimed.

"I started the first two years playing constantly, but then, in the third year, the manager put James Milner at left-back. I didn't play at all that year and it wasn't easy.

“After that, I spoke with Jurgen Klopp about my situation and he told me he was counting on me. I had a great pre-season and was a starter in the Premier League, playing every game in both the league and the Champions League.

"In fact, Lopetegui called me and I returned to the Spain team, but I was unlucky, and in the last game of the Champions League group stage, I injured my ankle.

"The coach put in Robertson, who was my substitute. And the truth is that we must admit that he did very well and won the title.

"In fact, Klopp, who I get along phenomenally and is always on my face, told me: 'Alberto, I trust you, but now I can't take [Robertson] off'.