Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri, has insisted that they are not interested in Mario Balotelli.
The 24-year-old striker has endured a miserable time since he joined Liverpool from AC Milan last summer and has scored just twice for Brendan Rodgers’ team.
His agent, Mino Raiola, was spotted at Juve’s training ground last week and speculations began that Balotelli was on his way back to Italy.
Allegri, who worked with Balotelli at AC Milan, told Italian TV station RAI: “I think this is a made-up story. Balotelli has done very well with me but he belongs to Liverpool and he is not a player that can arrive at Juventus.”
Allegri added in a news conference: “With me, Balotelli had a good year, with a good goalscoring record. Unfortunately he’s built a ‘persona’ outside of the football world and because of this people tend to talk more about what he does off the pitch than what he does on the pitch.
“But I think the time has come for him to show that he really can achieve his full potential — through sacrifices and effort. Whether I would like to work with him again or not, well, I would love to have all the best players, but he’s at Liverpool now, and while he is there he needs to concentrate on playing well. He needs to concentrate on showing he is an important player.”
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