Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc has confirmed reports that he discussed an issue concerning Edinson Cavani with key players over the winter break.
On Tuesday, L'Equipe claimed that Cavani's early departure for holidays had come up during a meeting with captain Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Motta and Blaise Matuidi.
The forward, 28, was unavailable for PSG's final league game before Christmas against Caen due to a calf injury, but the French sports daily suggested that some players were unhappy that he had not stayed with the team until after that match.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday's Coupe de la Ligue quarterfinal tie against Lyon, Blanc admitted that Cavani's "conduct" had been brought up but denied that it was a major issue.
"We have several meetings like that to talk about various problems," Blanc said at a news conference on Tuesday. "Not only problems, incidentally -- things to improve, things to look at again, things to change.
"So we did indeed talk about Cavani too but it wasn't the main talking point of the meeting."
Blanc appeared annoyed, however, that the incident might be portrayed as something it was not.
"We discussed Cavani for a precise problem," he said. "It was in-house dealings like we discussed other times for other players.
"Cavani is not a problem. There was a situation that had to be judged, that had to be discussed and that we had to have an exchange about. That's all."
Cavani has already scored 13 times in all competitions this season but he has not featured in PSG's two games since the turn of the year.
In September, the former Napoli striker conceded his first two years in Paris had not always been easy and he has often made clear his desire to play in a more central role rather than out wide in a three-man attack.
Blanc revisited that debate on Tuesday, saying that he had "great admiration" for the Uruguay international but indicating that Cavani would have to do make do with the situation.
"There's a system that, for him, is not drawing 100 percent of his qualities but don't forget that in that same system Edi has had very good statistics over the past two and a half years," Blanc said.
"He would like to play differently -- I can appreciate that -- but I have the balance of the squad and the balance of the team to protect and to emphasise.
"We can listen to the demands of all the players -- it's even an obligation -- but at a certain point you have to give priority to the collective ... When you have 25 players, you have to make as many of them as possible happy. Even if this means two or three aren't happy."