Liverpool outcast Mario Balotelli offered to Merseyside rivals Everton after Italian rejected again, this time by minnows Sassuolo
Super Mario could make the short journey across Stanley Park as his bid to find a new club becomes increasingly desperate
LIVERPOOL outcast Mario Balotelli could be set to join Merseyside rivals Everton, after the Italian was rejected by Serie A minnows Sassuolo.
The misfit forward, 26, has been hunting high and low for a new club this summer after being told by Jurgen Klopp he has no future at Anfield.
However, despite months of searching – after being linked with Sassuolo, Wolves, Pescara, Chievo, Ajax and FC Nantes to name a few – Balotelli is still set to rot in the Reds‘ reserves in 2016-17.
Yet he may yet be offered an escape route by Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, after Super Mario’s agent Mino Raiola offered him to the Goodison Park outfit, according to Sportitalia.
In fact, so great has the whisper been on Balotelli making the short trip across Stanley Park that the odds have been drastically slashed on the shock move.
It’s no surprise Everton are still in the market for a forward, with Romelu Lukaku see-sawing between wanting to link up with former club Chelsea and staying in the blue half of Merseyside.
Either way it is just the latest in a bizarre string of potential moves for one of the former hottest properties in world football.
Balotelli started his career with Italian minnows Lumezzane, before making his move to the big-time with Inter Milan, where he’d go on to net 20 times.
After three seasons at the San Siro, he was drafted by nouvelle riche Manchester City in 2010 where he made 54 Premier League appearances, bagging 20 goals in the process.
Following his entertaining spell in England, Balotelli was shipped back to Milan – this time with Inter’s rivals AC – where he spent one goal-laden season, netting a stunning 26 goals 2013-14.
His heroics attracted the attention of Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool, with the then- Reds chief willing to give the Italian one last shot in the Prem.
However, he scored just once in the league before he was exiled from the first team and was even loaned back to Milan for the 2015-16 campaign.
Since then, he has been told by Klopp to pack his bags, but with no club able to land a deal with the controversial striker, he could well be staying in Liverpool for another year…