And the award for ridiculous transfer rumour of the day is won by… Yes, the Daily Express have dug up two old chestnuts here, on what is clearly a slow news day for them.
SEE MORE:
Five pros and cons behind Liverpool’s rumoured interest in Radamel Falcao
Rating every Liverpool transfer window of the 21st century – Why the crop of 2007 must be matched
Robbie Fowler names his best XI teammates, with eight Liverpool stars included
We thought we’d seen the back of the Charlie Austin rumours after we sealed a deal for Danny Ings on Monday – with the Reds surely unlikely to sign another striker unless he’s the ‘marquee name’ that us fans are craving.
However, the Express have tipped us to waste whatever money we might recover from the potential sale of Balotelli on the Queens Park Rangers striker, who has just one season of Premier League experience under his belt.
We’ve also had to re-read the same old rumour about Mario going back to Italy and joining Sampdoria. The only slight change here is that the Express are suggesting that it could be a loan move, with the Reds still paying part of his wages… it just gets better and better doesn’t it.
Let’s look at things realistically – we’re not going to have more than four senior strikers next season. Three of those places have already been taken by Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and Ings. With the likes of Jerome Sinclair waiting in the wings and Raheem Sterling capable of playing through the middle as well, there’s really no need for more than one further player to come in up front.
For us to bring in that player, we’ll need to sell Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini – both to raise funds and to get their wages off our books. Even if we do that, we will categorically not be signing Charlie Austin.
He had a decent year admittedly, despite Rangers relegation, but we want someone that can be relied upon to score regularly at the top level. The Liverpool owners are more likely to stick with what they’ve got than splash out on another big-money transfer that they’re not sure about.
So, yeah, thanks Express…