Serie A Minnows Rule Out Balotelli Move

For at least a year now, there’s been a clear pattern when it comes to Mario Balotelli and pretty much any and every bottom-half Serie A side. Namely, every bottom-half Serie A side would be more than happy to tell the world about how they’d like to bring Balotelli in. Out of the kindness of their hearts. To help revive his career.

When push comes to shove—or when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is—those bottom-half Serie A sides have without fail slunk away, fading into the background. Only to pop up a month or three later to again talk about how they’d love to be the ones to help Mario Balotelli find his way back to stardom.

The problem, of course, is money. It’s that none of these clubs could afford to take Balotelli on permanently, and most couldn’t even afford to take him on loan while covering half his wages. And that that point, a loan makes little sense from a Liverpool perspective. It’s a fact one of those clubs’ presidents has finally admitted to.

“I know that his is the name that would get the most attention, but Mario is a great player and I think the last thing he would do would be to come to play at Pescara or Crotone,” Pescara president Daniele Sebastiani told Sport Mediaset, part admission but also a shot at the club who’ve spoken loudest of wanting Balotelli.

And, thinly veiled jab at a rival or not, it’s the truth. Balotelli isn’t about to join a Serie A minnow. Not with a year left to go in his Liverpool deal and with it likely cheaper to reach a settlement with the player to terminate his contract rather than sending him out on loan again while continuing to pay 75% or more of his wages.

It does leave Liverpool and Balotelli in an awkward place, though. One where a negotiated contract termination seems an increasingly likely outcome with few potential suitors left and little serious interest in bringing the player on.