Liverpool flop branded ‘spectacular waste of talent’ by Gerrard is ‘in talks’ over Turkey move

The year of 2023 seems to be the year of Liverpool players, both past and present, making new moves in their career. During the summer transfer window, the Reds lost a bulk of their first team, including Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, and Fabinho.

All three made the move to Saudi Arabia, and former Liverpool stars Sadio Mané and Georginio Wijnaldum also followed suit. But it isn’t just the Saudi clubs who are keen on browsing the Anfield archives — Turkey are now looking to snap up new signings before their window slams shut later today.

Thiago has been linked Trabzonspor and the club are eager to see a deal over the line. Another report this week has linked failed Liverpool signing Mario Balotelli to Adana Demirspor. According to Salim Manav, the Süper Lig club are ‘in talks’ to bring the Italian back to the club, having left last summer to join FC Sion in the Switzerland second division.

Balotelli tallied 19 goals and six assists during his season with Adana Demirspor but he has massively dropped off the radar in recent years.

He signed for Liverpool in 2014 from AC Milan but his stint at Anfield has gone down in history as one of the worst. Former captain Steven Gerrard admitted in his book ‘My Story’ that Brendan Rodgers described the signing of Balotelli as ‘a bit of a gamble’, and the skipper had his own opinion on the controversial figure who contributed just four goals in a red shirt.

“In my last season, Brendan Rodgers came to me at Melwood one day in mid-August. We had a chat on the training pitch. He said, ‘You know we’ve missed out on a couple of signings. I’m basically left with no option but to have a bit of a gamble.’

“Brendan paused before he spoke again: ‘The gamble is Mario Balotelli.’ My instant reaction was, ‘Uh-oh.’

“I’d never met Balotelli but I’d heard all the stories about the indoor fireworks and Jose Mourinho describing him as an ‘unmanageable’ player. I could see that, in the right mood, he was a quality footballer but the rest of his career seemed like a spectacular waste of talent. That was my opinion of Balotelli.”