Mario Balotelli isn’t the type of striker who is regularly welcomed back to clubs he has departed, but Italian publication Corriere dello Sport (h/t Joe Short of the Daily Express) claims AC Milan wish to re-sign the 24-year-old enigma.  

Balotelli headed to Anfield from the San Siro last summer in a £16 million switch, a deal which was worth taking a risk on for Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers.

However, he failed to score more than one goal in any competition during the 2014-15 campaign, often playing wasteful, lazy football when utilised as Rodgers’ lone striker. Corriere dello Sport‘s report suggests Sinisa Mihajlovic—who is expected to replace Filippo Inzaghi as Milan boss, per La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Sky Sports)—wishes to bring Balotelli back to Italy.

Sampdoria, Mihajlovic’s former club, were linked with a move for Balotelli throughout the recently concluded season, as reported by Gazzetta (h/t Neil Jones of the Liverpool Echo). Balotelli previously scored 14 goals in 30 Serie A appearances for Milan during ’13-14, per WhoScored.com, having also represented their local rivals Inter Milan in the division.

Liverpool will consider Balotelli’s sale if they can “break even,” according to Short’s report. It seems unlikely he will drum up £16 million again, despite possessing the natural talent needed to be a star. Balotelli’s career is so far defined by the familiar story of his lack of application outweighing his quality, though.

His goalscoring prowess can be seen below:

Rodgers is likely to already be preparing for the exit of Raheem Sterling, who will soon be the subject of a £25 million bid from Manchester United, as reported by David Anderson of the Daily Mirror. The newspaper’s corresponding headline was tweeted by Nick Sutton of BBC Radio 4:

Former Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry believes Sterling is in the best place to progress, but that nobody should be surprised by his willingness to leave because he’s carried out a similar move before. Parry spoke to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show (via Ian Cruise of talkSPORT):

What Raheem should have done is knuckle down and sign his new contract. He’s got plenty of football ahead of him. I think the best place for him would be Liverpool and the best manager would be Brendan Rodgers, given the support they’ve given him and his development.

But, equally so, he’s done it once. They took him from QPR and it’s going to happen again. So in some ways what do people expect?

B/R UK’s Sam Tighe recently discussed the possible landing spots for Sterling:

Liverpool announced the signing of James Milner from Manchester City on Thursday, as confirmed by the club’s official Twitter account:

Milner can perhaps replace Sterling in the side. His versatile qualities are likely to be extremely useful for Rodgers, who is also looking to find suitable reinforcements after the departure of captain Steven Gerrard.

At this point, getting rid of Balotelli will be seen as a positive step by most. Rodgers must ensure his squad is filled with hungry players who are willing to work hard for the club, a trait severely lacking in Balotelli’s performances.

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