Mario Balotelli’s short and disappointing time as a Liverpool player could be set to come to an end this summer.
Sampdoria’s president Massimo Ferrero says the Serie A club are interested in ending Balotelli’s hugely below-par year on Merseyside ahead of next season.
Speaking to Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ferrera confirmed his plans to bring the Italian back to his homeland in the summer, and believes he could produce his best form there under less scrutiny.
“I would take him — he’d be the real Balotelli again here. He wouldn’t have too much pressure here in Genoa,” he is reported to have said.
“He’s lost his hunger. He’s earning too much. If he was only on bread and water, he’d be a champion again.”
The controversial 24-year-old was signed by Brendan Rodgers for £16m from AC Milan last summer, but he has been a massive disappointment for the Reds.
The 33-time capped Italy international has scored just four times in 25 appearances, and has often been more trouble than it’s worth.
His only real moments of note were scoring vital winners against Ludogorets in the Champions League and Tottenham in the Premier League, in an otherwise insipid season.
There is clearly an extremely talented footballer hidden somewhere inside Balotelli, but it looks increasingly as though Liverpool will never get to see it.
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