Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers has revealed that signing Italian International Mario Balotelli was more of a last minute decision.
He admitted signing the striker was a ‘gamble’, which is not paying off since the Italian has not impressed up to expectations since his £16 million move to the club.
Rogers had earlier in August hinted that the former AC Milan striker will not sign with Liverpool, but went on to actualize Mario’s move to Anfield later that month; he described his decision as a last minute option as Liverpool needed a striker and Balotelli was worth a try considering his past glory.
“I think there were very few who are top class who were available and Mario Balotelli was a calculated gamble that we had to try and work with,” he said.
“I always said it was about availability and affordability of players. Mario was the one right at the very end who was available for that. I said when he came in that it was a calculated risk and it’s something I have to work on to try to make it work for the team.
“We’d had attempts for other strikers that didn’t materialise for one reason or another so it left us right at the end of the window with a decision of whether just to go with what we had, which experience told us we were well too light, or to take a calculated risk on a player who has quality and then could we get it out of him consistently?”
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