Having been left out of the club’s trip to the United States and sent to train with the kids, Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli remains in limbo with his agent Mino Raiola doing what he can to shop him around. Serie A sides Sampdoria and Crotone have made their interest known, but it looks like the best option for the 25-year old remains Turkish club Besiktas. Although they’ve denied being interested in him already this summer, it appears that they’re playing a cat and mouse game with the Italian reportedly not keen on moving to the SuperLig champions.
“I’m pretty sure he would attract great attention,” said Black Eagles president Fikret Orman when asked about a move for the controversial hit-man. “To be fair, if he wasn’t deemed as a trouble-maker, he wouldn’t be rumoured to be joining us. But we can show some effort and create solutions for Balotelli’s infamous troubles. I think he can change with the attention and care he’ll receive in Turkey,” added the Besiktas supremo. “In short, we want Mario Balotelli and he wants us too.”
While all that might sound pretty straight forward, a statement was quickly released on their official website denying that Orman had made those comments — which only adds to the intrigue. The player himself has remained quiet on his future, preferring that his agent do the talking for him. With that being said, it’s believed that Balotelli isn’t interested in taking much of a pay cut or playing for a club that is outside of the Champions League.
That, of course, is nonsense considering the 25-year old has done absolutely nothing to warrant playing top level football over the last two seasons, but Raiola is rumoured to have been making some phone calls on his behalf. Napoli, who only just lost Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus, reportedly turned down the chance to take the Reds misfit in, but Dutch juggernauts AFC Ajax could take a chance on him according to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.
