Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has firmly set the record straight over speculation on the Reds’ pursuit of AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli, insisting, “he will not be at Liverpool.”
Having drifted through a seemingly unsettled season at the San Siro following his move from Manchester City a year ago, the 23-year-old frontman is believed to be keen on a move back to England.
Since the moment he arrived last summer at AC Milan, Balotelli has been linked with a number of top Premier League sides including Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, along with with strong suggestions that his time in Italy – despite having signed a four-year contract – would be short-lived.
Yesterday Liverpool coach Rodgers spoke out on reports that twisted comments he had made in a press conference which led people to believe he was targeting the restless Italian.
“I can categorically tell you Mario Balotelli will not be at Liverpool,” he told reporters in Miami.
“In my last press conference I was asked a question about Mario Balotelli and I talked about what a talent he was and what an excellent player he was.
“The next day it was wrote as if we were signing him.
Rodgers pointed out that things very often get misconstrued in the press and by simply stating he admires a particular player for their ability, should not be converted into the insinuation he is about to sign him.
“I just gave my perception of him as a player. It should not be transmitted in to us signing the player,” stressed the Northern Irishman.
Six weeks ago Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stepped up to publicly set the record straight over his alleged pursuit of Balotelli, branding the story ‘pure invention.’
“We cannot believe absolutely everything that is on the internet or in the papers,” he told French media beIN at the end of June.
“Sometimes it is created by agents or by press who need news. But in this case, it’s not true.”
It has been several months since Chelsea chief Jose Mourinho has voiced his views on the wayward striker’s continual links with Stamford Bridge.
The two worked together at Inter Milan from 2008 to 2010 and it is no secret they experienced numerous bust-ups in the dressing room and at the training ground.
But that aside, back in March Mourinho hinted he would be fully prepared to handle the hot-headed Italian a second time, when he told Sky Sports:
“Balotelli is with a big club at the moment but you never know the future.
“I’m not going to be manager of Milan or the Italy national team, but he’s a good kid and somebody I’d like to work with again.”
The Portuguese coach’s comments came just weeks after Balotelli had told reporters in Italy that he would like to work with him again.
“Of course I would like to play under Jose again. In my first days at Inter we had some problems, but then it turned into a mutual respect, and now we have a real friendship.
“It is never boring playing under Jose.”
Whether Balotelli has a place in Mourinho’s Chelsea front-line now he has landed his ultimate hitman Diego Costa, remains yet to be confirmed.
Mourinho, it’s over to you.