Liverpool Transfer News

Liverpool Transfer News: Mario Balotelli Exit Rumours, Micah Richards Blow

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Mario Balotelli may well be on his way out of Liverpool in the summer after just one underwhelming season at Anfield.

This is no great surprise, the Italian having made little impact on Merseyside, scoring just one league goal in 800 minutes of playing time this season, per WhoScored.com.
However, he is supposedly not the only striker set to be put up for sale by Liverpool, with Simon Jones in the Daily Mail reporting Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert are also set to be shown the door, with Manchester United loanee Radamel Falcao seemingly being targeted as a replacement.

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Liverpool clearly have a striking problem, with Daniel Sturridge often absent this term through injury and Raheem Sterling forced to play in a more advanced role.
Boss Brendan Rodgers seemingly has little faith in Balotelli, Borini and Lambert, the trio having made a combined 16 starts in the league this term for a return of just four goals, per WhoScored.
The Reds will welcome back Divock Origi from his loan spell at Lille in the summer, although the 19-year-old Belgian has hardly been a model of consistency in Ligue 1 this season, per B/R UK:
Rodgers was very active in last summer's transfer window, and he is clearly going to have to be similarly prolific come the end of this season as well.
Luis Suarez has still not been properly replaced, and Balotelli, Lambert and Borini are not up to the task of leading a title-challenging attack—thus they should be moved on.
Whom Rodgers will bring in as a replacement remains to be seen—a mooted Falcao move would be a big risk—but Liverpool will likely need to splash the cash to snare top-class quality.
Elsewhere, Liverpool have reportedly been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Manchester City's Micah Richards, with the Englishman being tipped for a potential move to Southampton.

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In something of a right-back merry-go-round, Ben Jefferson of the Express reports that Saints' Nathaniel Clyne is set for Manchester United and Ronald Koeman wants to sign Richards as his replacement.
Richards—currently on loan at Fiorentina—is out of contract with City at the end of the season, but with Glen Johnson in the same position at Anfield and expected to leave, Rodgers is looking at the 26-year-old as a potential summer signing.
However, bearing in mind recent comments made by Richards about playing time, per Jefferson, St Mary's looks a more likely destination for the one-time England regular:

I just want to go somewhere where I'm going to play the most. Every footballer can go to a bigger club on a free contract but for me, I'm still only 26 and I just want to play every game, that's what's important.

Richards is still very much in the prime of his playing career, and his choice to go on loan to Fiorentina—the sixth-placed Serie A side for whom he has made seven league appearances—has put him in a unique position as an Englishman, per football writer Ouriel Daskal:
Rodgers could likely work well with the highly talented Richards, but if the right-back is indeed simply looking for more game time, Southampton looks the best bet with Javi Manquillo and Jon Flanagan both vying for a place in the Liverpool squad.
It seems the Reds will have to look elsewhere to bolster their defence which, while improving, could still do with added depth.