Georginio Wijnaldum has laughed off suggestions he was ever close to leaving Liverpool this summer, describing rumours of a potential move to Fenerbahce as "speculation".

After helping Jurgen Klopp's men get their season underway by thrashing West Ham on Sunday, the Dutchman is now solely focused on turning the feeling that something special is brewing at Anfield into tangible success.

It was reported last month that Wijnaldum would be allowed to depart Liverpool in order to reunite with compatriot and new Fenerbahce boss Phillip Cocu, under whose guidance he won the Eredivisie at PSV.

However, on Sunday, Wijnaldum emphatically dismissed such talk after contributing to the Reds' perfect start to the new campaign, saying: "That was the speculation of the media.

"I laugh about it. I also read that I asked the club if I could leave. I never had a conversation with the club. People from the outside just see Liverpool is buying players, so players who are already here are going to leave.

"Liverpool will always buy good players, even if they already have good players. That's normal. I think it has to be normal for a club like Liverpool because that means you're a big club.

"But that was something from the media that I was going to Turkey. Maybe because Phillip Cocu is manager [of Fenerbahce] and I worked with him for two years. I don't know who put it in the media, but it wasn't me."

As Wijnaldum suggests, doubts over future were somewhat fuelled by the summer arrivals of midfield duo Naby Keita from Red Bull Leipzig and Fabinho from Monaco.

But the latter started on the bench alongside Jordan Henderson as West Ham were beaten 4-0, with Wijnaldum and Keita joined by James Milner in performing impressively in the middle of the park.

The Netherlands international insisted his dynamic showing was in no way influenced by the presence of additional competition, though.

He added: "To be fair, I don't think like this. I always try to perform and not because you have players on the bench or on the pitch that can play in your position.

"I think it's quite normal. It has to be normal at a club like Liverpool - a club that will always buy players, even if they already have good players.

"I always want to play. I think that kind of competition you have to get it in a team like Liverpool. I think Manchester City and Chelsea, with the new signings that they've made, have it also.

"I think each position there is competition and it's good at Liverpool. Back in the day it was not different.

"If you see that there's a player and you play for a big team, you just have to do your best for the manager."

Keita and Fabinho were joined by Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson Becker in moving to Anfield this summer, with those reinforcements leading to Liverpool being hailed as the main threat to Manchester City's supremacy this term.

Such a convincing win on the opening day of the season will do little to quell expectations and, while Wijnaldum acknowledged that overhauling Pep Guardiola's team is a big ask, the midfielder says he and his teammates will do all they can to bridge the gap.

He continued: "We feel that we can do something special. We felt it last year also. But feeling is one thing, doing it is the second one.

"We work hard to achieve great things in the season. That's what we're going to try. We will see.

"I think we have the quality to compete with them but I also thought we had the quality last season. If City [are] going to play like they did last season then it will be really hard because they only lost two games and a few draws.

"If you want to compete with them you can barely drop points. That's really difficult but something we look forward to because you want to compete with the others and City is one of the best. So we will go for it."