:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46865532/GettyImages-471438968.0.jpg)
It’s getting hard to keep track of which Serie A sides Mario Balotelli has been linked to. Bologna, Sampdoria, and Fiorentina have dominated talk over the past week, but they haven’t been alone, and at times it’s felt as though just about every Italian side has either been offered the out of favour striker or has even publicly comment on him.
That feeling, as though he’s been tied to every Serie A side, took another step closer to becoming the reality today with Football Italia claiming Liverpool have offered him to Lazio on a season long loan with a €18M purchase option. Which is nice as it adds another potential destination that Balotelli probably won’t end up at. The numbers, though, seem a little off.
Mainly that’s because Sampdoria, whose owner seems to have made talking about Balotelli his main hobby, claimed he was available for around €10M—but that they’d want a further discount for doing Liverpool the favour of taking the once highly regarded talent off their hands. Which means either Sampdoria’s owner was making things up or Football Italia is.
Either seems equally possible at the moment. About the only thing that is clear is that Liverpool don’t much care to keep Balotelli around for another season after panicking and buying him last summer. It was always clear he was a poor fit for the side, and it didn’t help matters that manager Brendan Rodgers showed no flexibility in how he tried to use the striker.
For his part, Balotelli has been nothing but professional at Liverpool, putting his head down and doing his best to fit in. His skill set and approach to the game, though, is simply at odds with what Liverpool want to do, and if Rodgers has no intention of changing things up to get the best out of Balotelli, it’s probably best for all involved if a new home is found for him.
No matter where that home is or whether it’s permanent or temporary, Liverpool are going to take a loss. Given it never seemed a move likely to work out and that once Balotelli arrived there was no attempt made to set up the team to get anything out of him, they probably deserve to.
