La Gazzetta Dello Sport have revealed that Sassuolo’s proposed loan offer for Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli would see the Reds pay €4m euros of the Italian’s €6m annual salary.
The Serie A side say they can only afford to pay €2m a year, leaving the Reds to pick up the rest of the tab. This led Enzo Raiola, the cousin of Balotelli’s agent Mino Raiola, to tell the Italian newspaper that Liverpool and Sassuolo are “light years away” on coming to an agreement. Raiola also confirmed that only two clubs have made a firm approach for Balotelli:
“Yes, only these two clubs [Sassuolo and Chievo] have tried to test the water.”
Liverpool will hold out until a club offers an acceptable fee, according to Raiola which would suggest a loan deal would see any club pay the majority of Balotelli’s wages. La Gazzetta have also revealed that Balotelli isn’t even Sassuolo’s number one target with manager Eusebio Di Francesco more interested in signing AC Milan’s Alessandro Matri.
