Jamie Carragher admits he knew Liverpool signing was going to fail before he joined club

The arrival of Mario Balotelli at Liverpool was destined to be a failure before the Italian even got started, according to Jamie Carragher. The former Manchester City striker made the surprise move to Anfield in the summer of 2014 for £16million from AC Milan.

Then-Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers brought him back to the Premier League as the replacement for Luis Suarez, who left the club for Barcelona a month earlier. And even Rodgers jokingly admitted the maverick forward would be bringing "trouble" to the side after he signed.

Despite the glimpses of quality Balotelli had shown in Manchester, where he played a role in City's first Premier League triumph in the 2011/12, the former Italy international was a considerable failure at Liverpool.

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The 34-year-old managed just four goals in 28 games across all competitions in Merseyside before he was shipped back to Milan on loan and then later released under Jurgen Klopp, who saw no future at Anfield for the striker.

In the latest episode of The Overlap's Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet, the topic of discussion revolved around the best and worst transfers Premier League clubs have made. Chloe Bloxam of The Redmen TV chose Balotelli as the latter, and Carragher agreed with her choice. The Liverpool legend said: "I'd forgotten about Balotelli, that was almost one of those signings that you almost know it's going to fail before it even happened."

At the time, the free agent responded to his former boss by taking to X (formerly Twitter) and posting: "Brendan Rodgers you are also the best manager I ever had. Amazing," and added a cry-laughing emoji and a kiss.

It was only last year that Balotelli aimed further jabs at the Celtic manager when talking to TVPlay as he said: "Brendan Rodgers is the worst coach I have ever had. He was number one as far as training sessions were concerned, what with keeping possession of the ball and the small-sided games. But as a person he was a disaster."

Balotelli was the last Italian player purchased by Liverpool until last week's late acquisition of Federico Chiesa from Juventus for £12million.

The winger was in attendance on Sunday (September 1) to watch his team-mates dismantle Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford to continue Arne Slot's winning start to the season.

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