Balotelli was a "£50million player"
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revealed the club's owners thought Mario Balotelli was a "£50million player" that they could bring in for cheap and develop.
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Rodgers, who was sacked in October last year, signed Balotelli with the money Liverpool received from the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona.
The Italian striker cost the club £16million but was one of the Rodgers' last options after he failed to sign Alexis Sanchez.
"We played AC Milan in a friendly in America because what we needed was a replacement for a player who could press from the top end of the field," he told Sky's Goals last Sunday programme.
"It wasn't just a goalscorer we were after, Luis Suarez was giving so much more than that – the press and how we wanted to work.
"After the AC Milan game I was asked a question and he wasn't someone I felt was suited or fitted the profile of what we were after."
However Rodgers said the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group, thought he could "develop" Balotelli into a world-class player.
"Come the end of summer, when we were struggling to get in the type of player we wanted for that role, the ownership thought [Balotelli] was a player I could maybe develop," he said. Yahoo
