He's not going to be playing every game. Clubs dream of having a #2 the quality of Balotelli. It's a big name signing and a guy who scores important goals.

If BR can control Suarez and Sterling (who was headed down a dangerous path) then I don't think Balotelli will be completely out of control. I just hope he isn't too big of a distraction. He's much better than he used to be that's for sure.

Mario's a done deal. 16m is a bargain tbh.

As much as he can be a loose cannon as mentioned BR is one gaffa who should get this beast in focuss to cause damage and win BIG tight games.
Any CB's hate dealing with a tall solid striker - he's going to enjoy the ball distribution we'll be able to provide, this is a good buy @ $16m as mentioned !
I expect he's matured a little and the time away from the epl has probably given him the chance to see what more he could have done in back then - look out for the 2nd coming I'm predicting :)
Balotelli moved to Milan for £19m from City last year and has scored 30 goals in 54 games for the Serie A club.



Edited by M.L.: 22/8/2014 09:02:15 AM

People forget he is still only 24. We will have him in his prime. He will mature more under BR too (I hope).

Super Mario has the X Factor Liverpool FC need up front. The EPL crown is coming to Liverpool in 2014/2015.

:lol:

How many times have we heard that over the years on many talked about signings :lol:
He knew talks were at hand - never let things out of the bag till its locked in - its still :lol: but well worth it.

16M for Mario considering Monaco wanted a 12M loan fee for Falcao is a steal.

WIll be a test of BR's man management skills that's for sure.

I'm half excited, half terrified tbh.

Would love to have him back in the EPL.

Guy is a cunny funt.

-PB

I don't understand the optimism that so many Liverpool fans have in BR's ability to control Balotelli, I'm not meaning to down play BR's quality as I'm a big fan tbh, but I just don't think Balotelli is the type who can ever be 'managed' he's too self centred for it IMO.

I just don't see why Liverpool would replace a flawed genius in Suarez with an arguably more flawed character who has been highly sporadic throughout his career and has the ability to ruin a dressing room. I can't see him being too happy as a backup either.

Edited by fredsta: 22/8/2014 12:06:05 PM

Yer thats what is great about it tbh - what mood is Mario in today - then oh no #-o - Suarez revisited :lol: but damn as they say never a dull moment ! :p

The bigger concern is to get him to buy in to the system, pressing from the front, etc which he hasn't really done before apart from when playing for Italy.

In term's of the dressing room it's not like we have massive competing egos like he has had at other clubs. The off-field stuff with him can be distracting but largely harmless, even his suspension record is nothing compared to Suarez's.

At the end of the day we needed a quality striker, at 24 and at that price he's a gamble worth taking.

-PB

Had a good laugh at that picture this morning :lol:

Apparently he has behavioural constraints being written in to the contract (with obvious good behaviour incentives to balance things out). People like to write off Liverpool's signings as a disaster before a ball has been kicked. They said the same thing of him when he joined Milan, but it was Milan's performances that were the let down rather than Balotelli's.

Balo's 24 and reaching a point where the male brain is finishing development and developing emotional maturity. It's a good time to be signing him.

Thinking about it and discussing it with a few mates, the other important thing to remember with this transfer is that it's also a statement of intent from Liverpool. No matter how you spin it, Balotelli is a big name. And after a summer of bringing in players which are 'team players' designed to fill a role in BR's scheme, Liverpool needed something for the fans to get excited about, and a signing like Balotelli is a case of "shots fired" reminding other clubs (and their players) that Liverpool can draw big names again. Unlike the signings of Suarez (big player at a small club) and Coutinho (small player at a big club), obtaining Balotelli for what is frankly a modest fee from another big club (albeit one horribly underperforming) is in many ways a statement bellowing "Liverpool are back!"

Admittedly I don't really rate Balotelli, but the fact you got him and Sturridge for the same price Everton paid for Lukaku is pretty hilarious.

The price is amazing and is great by Liverpool. I think it will still prove a lot by the time he leaves as I think he will be gone pretty quickly but no club could ever turn the chance down to sign him for that much.

I think he is a good signing to replace Suarez. Liverpool seem to play a formation thats halfway between a 4-3-3 and a 442 Diamond with wide strikers. Ballotelli can be effective playing deeper and can also shoot from distance so he could fill that role quite easily.

EPL strikers that cost more than Sturridge + Balotelli:
- Romelu Lukaku
- Diego Costa
- Alexis Sanchez
- Fernando Torres
- Dimtar Berbatov
- Andriy Shevchenko
- Sergio Aguero
- Robinho
- Edin Dzeko
- Hernan Crespo
- Carlos Tevez
- Andy Carroll
:lol::lol::lol:

Adebayor, Rooney and Drogba aren't far behind at 25m a piece either.

The thing is, at 16m I'd wager that Balotelli's merchandising sales over the next 12 months would take a huge chunk out of the transfer fee, if not all of it.

I would say Suarez is irreplaceable and we were never going to be able to keep him. Eventually he would've left and we assured we got decent money for him instead of running the risk he would leave for free when his contract ended.

At 16m, Balottelli is pretty cheap for what he could offer. He has scored regularly at almost a goal every second game for the last 3 seasons for club and country. There'll be headlines and suspensions but we had that with Suarez for the last few years too.

It does sound funny but we can't attract a player like Balotelli, and even though we still paid overs we have got a young player with 2 good premier league seasons behind him who works in our system.

I don't think he's as good as people make out but he'll be a great signing for Liverpool if he goes on one of his hot streaks.

Rodgers went too attacking after half time. Our defence was understaffed at the back and it just dug us into a deeper hole. We were doing just fine tactically in the first half and shouldn't have tried to get the equaliser straight away. That worked last season with Suarez against smaller club but we should've waited until city would feel like they needed to hold onto it around the 70-75th.

Anything could have happened today. We were the better side clearly in the first half but after we conceeded we never looked likely. Not many teams will take points at the Etihad this season..

Yeah, good at the beginning but the first goal killed us.

More worried about Moreno's ankle to be honest, hope he's ok.

Seemed fine, just landed awkward I think.

Quality Suarez replacement ;)