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Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates admitted he may have to leave the club in search of regular first-team football.

The centre-back signed on at Anfield after impressing for Uruguay in the 2011 Copa America, but he has rarely featured in a red shirt - making just one league start this season - and has dropped out of the Celeste side as a result.

With the World Cup coming up in neighbouring Brazil next summer, Coates is desperate to regain his place in Oscar Tabarez's plans, even if it means leaving Merseyside.

"I want to play, and more than anything with all that is coming up for the national team, I need to play. With this in mind, I want to play whether it is at Liverpool or somewhere else," Coates told Uruguayan paper El Observador .

Coates trains with the squad all week, but with the majority of his season having been spent on the bench or sometimes left out of the matchday squad entirely, he admits he is finding things tough at Anfield:

"It's difficult [to train all week and not play], but this happens to all players at some point and you just have to train as hard as you can to show that if they give you a chance then you will make the most of it.

"In the window there was the possibility of going on loan to a few teams but the club told me that I couldn't.

"Nearly always I travel with the team and then get left out.

"But I try to be good, keep my head, train well and wait for my opportunity.

Asked if the situation angered him, Coates admitted "yes, but I think that it would for everyone... It's difficult."

"I have a contract until 2016, but we will have to see what will happen with my future. I will wait until the transfer window and talk to the club."