Mario Balotelli seems set to return to Liverpool after AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani admitted his performances for the Rossoneri while on loan do not “merit a permanent deal.” 

The Italian returned to Milan last summer on a one-year loan deal after a disappointing first season with the Reds, but injuries and inconsistent play have plagued him during the 2015-16 campaign.

As reported by MailOnline’s Rohan Banerjee, Galliani needs to see more from the 25-year-old: “We really like Mario, but he has to convince us to earn a permanent deal. Mario is feeling well. He is desperate to stay here at Milan. But like I have said before, he does not merit a permanent deal at the moment.”

David Amoyal of ESPN FC added one more comment from Galliani, who made it clear the player’s wish is still to stay with the Rossoneri:

Per Banerjee, Balotelli has scored just three goals in 17 appearances so far. He had surgery to repair a hip flexor problem earlier this season and has spent the bulk of the campaign looking for his best form, per Milan’s official website (h/t Football Italia).

Super Mario’s career has been filled with ups and downs, and at the age of 25, the Italian’s future at the top of European football already seems over. He showed huge promise while at Inter Milan and Manchester City and put everything together during his first spell with Milan, but things have been going downhill ever since. 

Per WhoScored.com, he scored an incredible 12 goals in 12 Serie A starts for Milan during the 2012-13 campaign, and when he scored 14 goals the next season, Liverpool’s interest was piqued. Former Brendan Rodgers probably assumed he was buying this player:

Instead, he got the Balotelli Manchester City fans grew tired of during the last months of his spell at the Etihad Stadium. Per Banerjee, problems off the pitch and a lack of form and fitness on it plagued him from the very start of his Anfield career, and he never recovered.

Controversy has followed Balotelli wherever he has gone, and there have been so many incidents, Goal managed to put a top 10 video together in 2013―when he was just 23 years old:

While most Liverpool fans likely got tired of his lack of production during the 2014-15 season, some will have hoped it was down to Rodgers, who failed to get the team firing as a whole and was replaced by former Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp earlier this season.

With Klopp now coaching the squad, there was some hope the German would be the one to finally unlock Balotelli’s full potential. Super Mario’s blend of athleticism, scoring prowess and creativity make him a perfect fit for Klopp’s high-octane style of play, and the Reds are in desperate need of a star striker.

Mundo Deportivo (h/t talkSPORT) claimed Atletico Madrid are interested in Christian Benteke, who seems all but certain to leave the club at the end of the season and hasn’t featured much in the last few weeks.

According to Tony Barrett of the Times, his chance to impress Klopp and change his fortunes at Anfield took a major shot when he suffered a knee injury, and a departure seems likely:

The Belgian will likely have to be replaced, and even if he stays with the Reds, Klopp will be eager to add another forward to his squad. Daniel Sturridge is the clear starter when healthy, but his health has been an issue for a long time, and the likes of Divock Origi are too inconsistent and inexperienced to lead the attack every single week.

An in-form and confident Balotelli would be the perfect solution, but his struggles have lasted nearly two full seasons now, and the player he once was seems gone forever. A future in China or the MLS seems more likely than a permanent return to Anfield, where Klopp will want to avoid bringing such a dangerous personality into a dressing room he’s still trying to mould.

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Ivan Perisic is “excited” about the prospect of signing for Chelsea and working with soon-to-be manager Antonio Conte, according to his agent. The Inter Milan and Croatia winger is reportedly a potential target for the incoming Conte, with the Serie A side perhaps being forced to sell if they fail to meet financial fair play regulations. 

Speaking to Goal.com‘s Nizaar Kinsella, Persic’s agent, Tonci Martic, said: “To be linked to a club like Chelsea and a manager like Antonio Conte is very exciting for Perisic. The Premier League is the best league in the world and Chelsea is a massive club so we would happily talk about it but a deal is far at this moment.”

Kinsella’s report identified Perisic as “one of several Serie A players” Conte is keen on to help rebuild Chelsea’s ailing squad. That fits with recent rumours linking Perisic with a move to Stamford Bridge.

Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport (h/t Uche Amako of the Daily Express) reported on March 30 how Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich would rubber-stamp a £15.7 million offer for Perisic.

The Serie A club may have to accept such an offer due to their own financial issues. Kinsella described exactly what those issues are: “Inter may be forced to sell Perisic having once fallen foul of the financial fair play rules and a likely lack of [UEFA] Champions League football next term would put them at risk once again.”

If Chelsea can strike such a deal for Perisic, it would be one of the bargains of the summer transfer window. The 27-year-old is a devilish wide forward who makes some of the most perceptive runs in Europe.

His ability to ghost off the flank into dangerous areas makes him a threat to any defence. His varied movement creates true fluidity up front.

Those qualities have helped the former Wolfsburg man thrive in Italy’s top flight this season. He’s scored six times and provided a quartet of assists in Serie A, according to WhoScored.com.

Perisic would be a major asset for a Chelsea squad that needs to spread the goals around next season. His presence would help offset any continuing problems of finding a marquee centre-forward.

Conte Plans Talks with John Terry

Skipper John Terry is supposed to be leaving Stamford Bridge at the end of this season. But Conte reportedly still wants to talk with the 35-year-old centre-back, even though Terry remains convinced he won’t be offered a new contract, per John Cross of the Daily Mirror.

Cross noted how Terry hasn’t been short of offers since Chelsea decided not to renew his deal: “Terry’s current deal expires this summer and there has been offers from China, interest from the MLS and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola wants to take him to Al-Arabi in the Middle East.”

While any club would welcome Terry’s experience and leadership, now seems like the perfect time for Chelsea to move on and open a new chapter. The arrival of Conte is the ideal moment for the west London club to begin finding its next talisman at the back.

Refreshing things in defence will be a priority for Conte. But he cannot ignore the need to add more variety and talent up front.

Signing Perisic for a reasonable fee would give the Blues a player sure to add plenty of both to a new-look forward line next season.

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Results in Serie A this past weekend saw Juventus take firm control of the Serie A title race, their victory over Empoli and Napoli’s loss to Udinese seeing the Bianconeri open up a six-point gap over their closest rivals.

Yet the second of those matches could have even further ramifications on the destination of the trophy, with Gonzalo Higuain subsequently suspended for four games by the league’s disciplinary committee.

According to their press release (h/t Football Italia), the striker—who was shown a red card and then put his hands on the referee—was also fined €20,000. That means he is set to miss encounters with Hellas Verona, Inter Milan, Bologna and AS Roma, but he is not the only one facing time on the sidelines.

Indeed, the report went on to note that team-mates Kalidou Koulibaly and Dries Mertens had passed the threshold for yellow cards and will sit out one match each, while coach Maurizio Sarri has also been given a one-game touchline ban for “blatantly challenging the actions of the match officials” on several occasions.

With just seven rounds of the season remaining, that has prompted Alessandro Nesta—who won the Scudetto with both AC Milan and Lazio—to tell La Gazzetta dello Sport that he believes the punishment will seal the title for current holders Juventus.

“The championship is already decided, especially after Napoli‘s loss and the suspension of Higuain,” he said (h/t Yahoo Sport), but it will be up to the Bianconeri to ensure that they capitalise on this opening.

That starts with Saturday’s trip to San Siro, where a meeting with the Rossoneri awaits. Yet Nesta’s former side are heading into the fixture under serious pressure themselves, struggling to deliver the kind of form that would inspire fear in the Old Lady.

Their loss to Atalanta last Sunday—coupled with the fact they are now without a win since beating Torino back in February—brought some harsh words from coach Sinisa Mihajlovic in his post-match interview with Mediaset Premium.

“We can only apologise to the supporters, because this was an unacceptable performance,” he said (h/t Football Italia). “This is why we are going into a training retreat—at least until Saturday—to prepare for the match with Juventus.”

The former Serbia international will hope that brings the best from his players, but Milan—who sit sixth in the table and a staggering 24 points behind the Bianconeri—should expect few favours from a side they last beat at home back in November 2012.

“One off-day is all it would take for our rivals to close in, even Roma aren’t far off the pace,” Alvaro Morata told Mediaset and Sky Italia earlier this week (h/t Juventus.com) before adding a note of caution about their next opponents.

“Milan are always tough opponents to face, especially at the San Siro,” the Spain international continued. “It will be tough and a win for them would be of extreme importance, especially at this moment in time.”

Meanwhile, a club lawyer has revealed Napoli intend to appeal the ban given to Higuain. “A balanced punishment would be two games,” Mattia Grassani told Radio 24 (h/t Football Italia) before adding that the Partenopei are “looking for a significant reduction in his suspension.”

Juventus must therefore capitalise quickly while the striker—who has scored 30 of the side’s 61 league goals this term—is forced to miss out. If the gap already seems daunting, the prospect of it widening further before Napoli take on Hellas Verona this Sunday could become overwhelming for Sarri’s men.

The 2015-16 Scudetto race has been the tightest Juventus have faced in recent seasons, but against Milan this Saturday, they have a chance to perhaps land a fatal blow. It is an opportunity they must not waste.

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Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure “has put Liverpool on alert” as he is reportedly willing to “snub a move to Inter Milan this summer” in order to remain in the Premier League.

According to John Cross in the Mirror, it is widely believed the Ivorian will be surplus to requirements at City in the summer when Pep Guardiola is installed as manager, and Inter are prepared to offer him a three-year deal worth less than £100,000 a week. 

The report added Toure, 32, has also had offers from China, but he is not willing to uproot his settled family from England and thus wants to stay in the Premier League.

Per Simon Osborn in Metro, Liverpool could be the beneficiaries if they decide to go in for Toure.

His brother, Kolo, is already at Anfield, and the central midfielder could be an asset on Merseyside having shown his immense effectiveness in English football over the last six years.

However, it seems as though Toure would not be an ideal fit under manager Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe previously explained that he would be moved on from City by Pep Guardiola because of his inability to fit into the Spaniard’s hardworking culture:

Klopp demands similar application from his players, thus it is unlikely the German boss will go after Toure even if he does become available in the summer.

Liverpool have been given a boost in their reported pursuit of Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen after the German denied already agreeing to join City—a move he was recently reported to be “on the verge of,” per Matt Law in the Telegraph. 

He replied “no” when asked whether the City deal had been struck and said: “At the end of the season we will see what the situation is and we’ll talk,” per Spanish outlet Onda Cero (via Jack Staplehurst in the Express). 

Staplehurst added a summer exit from the Camp Nou for Ter Stegen is “likely” as he continues to be frustrated at playing second fiddle to No. 1 goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

He is good enough to warrant a starting role at a number of other top clubs and would surely be a vast improvement on Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal.

The Belgian is an accomplished shot stopper, but he makes far too many mistakes to be considered a top-level keeper, per Squawka:

At just 23 years old, Ter Stegen is only likely to get better and better and could be Liverpool’s No. 1 for the next decade and more.

With City clearly not having yet signed him up, the Reds still have a chance of sealing a move for him this summer.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have been dealt something of a blow in their reported pursuit of Mario Gotze after Robert Lewandowski urged his Bayern Munich team-mate to remain with the Bundesliga giants in the long term, per Joe Rimmer of the Liverpool Echo:

Mario proved during the international break that he is always capable of showing what he can do and that he is a great player.

He should not be reading what people say about him in the papers. He does not need all the extra pressure.

Mario knows how to deal with it, though. He is used to it. It is silly that there is so much talk about him.

He is a Bayern player, and he has plenty of games left until the end of the season to prove that he is good enough for Bayern.

He has plenty of time to prove his critics wrong. He should stay at Bayern for a long time because he is a great player.

German international Gotze has been often underused this season at Bayern, starting only six Bundesliga matches, per WhoScored.com.

As a result, he has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool to rejoin Klopp, who handed him his debut and oversaw some of his best football at Borussia Dortmund, per the Daily Mail‘s Dominic King.

However, Lewandowski’s backing of Gotze is unlikely to help the Reds’ cause in their bid to sign the 23-year-old winger.  

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Bayern Munich edged Benfica in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie on Tuesday, claiming a 1-0 win at the Allianz Arena.

Arturo Vidal’s headed goal just 110 seconds into the game put the Bavarian giants on the board, and that proved to be enough for the hosts.

It wasn’t the kind of performance that has come to characterize Bayern. Per UEFA.com, they “only” took 13 attempts on goal, their chances following the opener being scarce and few. They looked entirely in control for almost the entire game, yet they seemed to only have limited interest in scoring again.

Perhaps the opener came too early, taking away a bit of the hunger to score before Bayern had built momentum.

In any case, Thiago Alcantara wasn’t the defense-splitting playmaker he’s been known to be, Douglas Costa continued to be the Costa of this spring rather than that of last fall, and Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski just lacked sharpness: The former was denied from close range by a great save in the first half, and the latter badly overweighted his pass to Philipp Lahm at the death with the goal open. 

Vidal was magnificent not only for his goal, but he and Juan Bernat were the only Bayern players to really shine.

From Bayern’s perspective, there are two ways to look at Tuesday’s result.

Through a lens looking at the results of previous seasons, Bayern are actually in real danger of being eliminated in the second leg. Pep Guardiola’s away record in the Champions League is quite poor for a manager of his reputation, and their 3-1 loss away to FC Porto in last season’s quarter-finals is a result that would put them out of this year’s competition.

The difference is that last season, Bayern managed to turn around lackluster first-leg displays in the round of 16 and quarter-finals with dominant wins in the home legs (7-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk and 6-1 against Porto).

The home leg against Benfica has already been played. And although 1-0 is a great result that many teams would be delighted to earn, the tie is far from over. Like the 1-0 win Louis van Gaal’s Bayern earned against Inter Milan in the first leg of the 2011 last-16 tie, a seemingly outstanding result might not be enough.

The other lens to look through is that the 1-0 result has put Bayern in the driver’s seat, leaving Benfica with the onus to score in the second leg. With the Portuguese side forced to chase a better result, the Bundesliga champions have them right where they want.

True, Bayern weren’t exactly at their best on Tuesday. But with this team, one gets the impression that they can turn up the heat when they want.

It wasn’t needed on Tuesday, with Vidal scoring inside two minutes. Yet even if the visitors had drawn level or even taken the lead (Jonas had a golden opportunity on 57 minutes, and shortly thereafter the Portuguese side saw a trio of gilt-edged opportunities go begging), Bayern have proved to be capable of turning the result around. If not by full-time of the first leg, then by the end of the second. Their late comeback against Juventus proved they can do just about anything if they truly want to.

Accordingly, if Benfica manage to score first in Lisbon and draw level on aggregate, that may not help them much: Bayern can just play a bit more aggressively and fight a bit harder to create chances on goal.

Muller and/or Lewandowski will find their chances, and in all likelihood, the German club will get the goals they need to progress. For a team to beat Bayern, they need to be not only better than Benfica, but they need to get a much better first-leg result. Or that’s how it seems nowadays.

Relying on individual magic as Bayern did against Juve is a dangerous game, of course, and at some point it may well fail. Still, that may not even be necessary in this tie, with the Bavarians in a relatively commanding position.

Discounting a full-on implosion (which is yet possible), the Germans should progress to the semi-final stage.

@Mr_Bundesliga

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