Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Italian striker Mario Balotelli does not feature in his plans for the new season.
The Reds forward spent last season out on loan at AC Milan and he returned to Merseyside as Liverpool begin their preparations for the 2016-17 season.
Jurgen Klopp however explains that Mario Balotelli is his fifth choice striker.
“I have spoken to him about this. There will be a club around who would be happy to have new Mario Balotelli”, Jurgen Klopp was quoted in .
German tacticians insists that there are no problems with the Italian international and went on to praise Balotelli’s effort in preseason training, but he personally advised the 25-year-old forward to look for a different club.
Balotelli’s agent…
Christian Benteke may have struggled to make an impact at Liverpool but the Belgium international has no regrets about his Anfield switch.
The striker moved to Merseyside in July 2015 after 42 Premier League goals in three seasons for Aston Villa, then-Reds manager Brendan Rodgers parting with a reported transfer fee of £32.5million.
Benteke s time at the club did not go as planned, though, as he struggled to hold down a regular first-team berth, and the goals dried up.
In his 29 league appearances – 14 of which were starts – the 25-year-old only found the back of the net nine times, and he was duly sold to Crystal Palace by Rodgers successor Jurgen Klopp in August.
Despite his indifferent spell with the Reds, Benteke does not look back with regret.<…
Geoffrey Kondogbia has described his move to Inter as a dream come true and has set his sights on lifting silverware with Roberto Mancini s side.
After completing his medical on Monday, the France international put pen to paper on the deal that finalises his switch from Monaco.
Kondogbia made 66 appearances for Monaco following his move from Sevilla in 2013, but he had no hesitation in leaving the Ligue 1 club when Inter came calling.
Being a part of this great team is a dream come true, he told the club s television channel. I want to be here for as long as possible.
As a kid I used to watch Inter play on TV, and now I m joining this huge club. I will give my all.
Inter beat off competition from city rivals Milan to acquire the 22-year-old, …
Neymar is not looking forward to facing Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi when Brazil take on Argentina in Beijing on Saturday.
The two South American rivals will meet at the Beijing National Stadium this weekend for the first time since November 2012, with Neymar s Brazil having picked narrow wins over Colombia and Ecuador since their World Cup campaign on home soil ended.
Ahead of a fixture that will likely be treated more seriously than a standard friendly, Neymar warned of the threat Messi can pose.
Playing alongside him is a great honour; he s the best player in the world, he explained to reporters in the Chinese capital.
Playing against him is not pleasant.
We hope that he has a bad day and doesn t see much of the ball. We all realise tha…
AC Milan chief Adriano Galliani has confirmed that Flamengo are showing interest in Brazilian forward Robinho.
The former Manchester City star has expressed his desire to return to Brazil, with a return to Santos the most likely option.
However, Flamengo have also joined the race for the highly rated forward, according to Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani.
“Robinho to Flamengo? It’s possible, yes,” Galliani told reporters after landing in Rio de Janeiro.
The Rossoneri official has traveled to Brazil to negotiate with clubs interested in Robinho and Alexandre Pato, who are both hoping to return to their native country.
Robinho, 28, has failed to make a big impact in Europe and has always saved his best performances for the Brazil’s top…
QPR defender Rio Ferdinand has shown no sign of remorse according to the commission that penalised him over recent comments on Twitter.
The former England captain was banned for three matches and fined £25,000 due to his conduct on the social network, with the Football Association citing a potentially insulting reference to gender.
After being sent a message from another Twitter user, which read, Maybe QPR will sign a good CB they need one, Ferdinand replied using the derogatory slang term sket .
The Independent Regulatory Commission released its written reasons for the case on Wednesday and revealed Ferdinand through his solicitors had claimed his use of the word was not derogatory, an explanation that was rejected.
The commission s statement read: Unf…
West Ham winger Stewart Downing said he knew it was time to leave Liverpool when he was deployed as a left-back.
Downing in his second full season at Upton Park is preparing to represent England for the first time since 2012 following his brilliant run of form for West Ham.
But an England recall seemed like a distant dream for Downing at Liverpool, where he endured a torrid two-year spell that came to a head after he was told to play as a full-back by manager Brendan Rodgers.
While the 30-year-old was content to make the switch to defence in order to put together some much-needed game time, he revealed it was the lowest point of his career.
I was out of the team [at Liverpool] so for me just to play and get back in the team was a big thing, Downing said.…
It was little wonder Mikel Arteta had his head in his hands and that was before Chelsea grabbed a late winner in a 2-1 victory at Arsenal on Sunday.
The new Gunners head coach had seemingly produced a masterclass, outmanoeuvring Frank Lampard a week on from the Chelsea boss own breakout tactical display away at Tottenham.
But then Bernd Leno, one of Arsenal s more consistent performers in this miserable season, failed to intercept Mason Mount s deep 83rd-minute free-kick and instead left an open goal for Jorginho, who might have been sent off six minutes earlier and was fortunate to escape a second yellow card for wrestling Matteo Guendouzi to the ground.
As has so often been the case for Arsenal this term, worse was still to come.
Tammy Abraham led a c…
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will target the Champions League as Liverpool run away with the Premier League title, according to Xavi.
City are eyeing a third consecutive Premier League crown under Guardiola, however, the defending champions are third and 14 points adrift of unbeaten rivals Liverpool – who have a game in hand – after 20 matches.
Amid doubts over Guardiola s long-term future in Manchester, former Barcelona star Xavi believes the Spaniard will prioritise the Champions League ahead of a blockbuster last-16 showdown against Real Madrid.
Pep is a born winner, Al Sadd head coach Xavi, who played under Guardiola at Camp Nou, told The Mirror. It will hurt him that Manchester City are so far behind Liverpool in the league and he won t give …
Carson Yeung has pledged 80 million pounds over the next ten months in a bid to turn Birmingham City into a more formidable Premier League force.
The new owner is clearly not short of ambition, but he ll be given an immediate indication of the scale of the task that lies before him when City travel to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium for their first game since the Hong Kong businessman formally completed the takeover of the Midlands club.
Yeung stated on Thursday that he was ready to make up to 40 million pounds available to City manager Alex McLeish in the forthcoming January transfer window to strengthen the squad.
And he subsequently revealed that a similar amount will also be allocated for trading in next summer s transfer market, providing McLeish with …