Jurgen Klopp is adamant Naby Keita's long-term future remains at Liverpool.
But the Reds boss admits the midfielder is among several players who have seen first-team opportunities "hurt" by the need for stability given continued injury issues in defence.
Keita hasn't featured since being hauled off three minutes before half-time in the Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat at Real Madrid almost four weeks ago.
A combination of illness and various injury issues - including a two-month spell on the sidelines with an ankle problem - have restricted Keita to just 714 minutes of action across 16 appearances this season.
And Klopp says the 26-year-old's chances have been further limited by injury problems elsewhere in the Liverpool squad.
"A lot of things in this year have been really tricky," said the Reds manager, whose team are at Manchester United on Sunday.
"We've had to change the team often, then at the moment we have to go for stability, which is what we need right now.
"Look at United. I think their defence has played around 20 games together, and that means they can make changes elsewhere because they have a proper basis.
"We have never had that. On top of that, making two or three changes in midfield just doesn't work out in football.
"People say 'try it', and you can try but only if you are sure it could nearly work out."
Klopp added: "You need stability in a football team. Other teams are too good to allow you to make eight or nine changes.
"That has hurt a few of our players this year. Naby was injured and it took a while for him to come back.
"He trains really well, I have to say, like a lot of other players he looks really well in training but this year we need stability.
"We will make changes from time to time, definitely, but it's not like we can change seven, eight, nine players and expect to win a game.
"But the long-term future of Naby Keita from my point of view is here, yes. "
Keita is likely to remain among the substitutes at Old Trafford, with Liverpool again set to be without Nat Phillips in defence.
The Reds, who began the weekend in sixth place, need a victory to keep alive hopes of finishing in the Champions League qualification berths.
However, there is a nightmare scenario where Liverpool could finish fourth and not qualify for the competition due to the success of other English clubs in Europe this season.
That will only happen if Chelsea win the Champions League and Arsenal lift the Europa League with both also finishing outside the top four. The two teams are well-placed after the first leg of their semi-finals, with Manchester City and United respectively the likely opponents in the final.
And Klopp said: "It's not nice if you finish fourth and then you get kicked out because another team has got into the Champions League. That's not cool.
"But these are the rules at the moment, so we have to accept them. If they are wrong, then we have to change them. But at the moment we have to work with that.
"There is a good chance again - like in 2019 - that there are two all-English finals again. That makes it really tricky.
"Most of the involved teams apart from potentially Arsenal are already in the Champions League, more or less. Chelsea not 100%, that's (the place) that we are hoping to get."
