Call Balotelli and tell him we need a striker says Nice President

Palermo is said to be “unable to come anywhere close to matching the wages Balotelli now receives at Liverpool”, which stands at around £100,000 per week, as per 90min.

The French club have been linked with Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli this summer, and the Nice chief chose to try and move the deal along on Saturday.

“We think that Palermo could be just the right place for him to relaunch his career”, said Sporting Director Daniele Faggiano.

But Palermo recently joined the chase for Balotelli, who looked more likely to join them after the club’s owner Maurizio Zamparini and manager Davide Ballardini made their interest public.

He is on £90,000 per week at Liverpool, and although it’s not been said, surely it seems unlikely that we’d want to subsidize it?

Balotelli has been heavily linked with an Anfield exit this summer, but few clubs have made any real attempt to sign the player as a result of his large wages and troubled past few seasons.

The 26-year-old has been frozen out of the first team by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp after returning from an underwhelming loan spell at AC Milan. “It’s a very hard operation, but we’re trying”.

“I will win the Ballon d’Or”, Mario Balotelli told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera via the Liverpool Echo early last month. He needs a club like Palermo, which of course is also where he was born: it’d be an huge advantage in the long run.

“We did discuss the economic situation and I explained we could not afford wages above a certain level”.

The likes of Everton, Crystal Palace and West Brom are also all understood to be interested in signing the forward, say the Italian sports daily.

But they would be prepared to let him go on loan if they can get some commitment to the deal becoming permanent at the end of the year.