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In April, Sampdoria’s president publicly announced that he wanted to sign Mario Balotelli. He just didn’t have the money to do so. In the meantime, nothing much has changed. The season has ended, and the Serie A club finished in seventh. And they still want Mario Balotelli and still can’t afford him.
If Liverpool grow desperate enough, though, there are crazier possibilities than the out of favour striker ending up with i blucerchiati before the window closes at the start of September. However, if it does come to pass it won’t be a permanent deal, and Liverpool will have to pay the bulk of the striker’s wages.
"I’d like to see Balotelli here, but I can’t afford it," was Sampdoria president Massimo Ferrero’s blunt take on the matter when asked by Sky Italia about the chances of Balotelli forming a partnership with Samuel Eto’o—who joined in January on a two-and-a-half-year deal—at the club next season.
Liverpool are still hoping to make back some of their investment in Balotelli with a straight sale, but so far there has been little interest in the out of favour 24-year-old outside of Italy, where his reported wages of around £90k would be problematic for most sides. As such, it’s easy to imagine Liverpool having to resort to a loan.
Despite Balotelli’s raw talent, it was always a risk that if he didn’t deliver at Liverpool there would be no place to send him next, at least not without Liverpool heavily subsidizing the move. Nobody in England, Spain, or Germany want the player, and with the Milan clubs not interested, it leaves few reasonable destinations.
In fact, if Liverpool can find a club to both pay a transfer fee and wages the player will find acceptable, it will be a minor miracle. If they can’t manage such, though, well there’s always Sampdoria. Who would like to remind you they’d quite like Mario Balotelli. As long as Liverpool are doing the paying.
