I Didn’t Want To Sign Balotelli- Brendan Rodgers

Former Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers has claimed he did not have the last word on transfers as he spoke for the first time since his sacking.

Rodgers, who was sacked by Liverpool last October, insisted Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool's owners, wanted him to take a chance on Mario Balotelli in August 2014, to see if Rodgers could turn the maverick striker from a £16million gamble into £50million superstar. He also discuss other issues like why he never signed Dele Alli from MK Dons, the sales of Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez, as well as Steven Gerrard's departure.

When asked by Skysport Ben Shepherd if he had the final say, Rodgers said “Well…. It was a group decision, really. It was certainly not something I would have the sole or final say on. It's difficult really. When there is a list of players and the player that you want isn't on that list, you have to take someone. You can't have no players. If you haven't got a left back, if the left back that you want, for whatever reason, you can't bring in, if there is a list of three or four, you are having to take the best on that group. It's the model. It's about the young player. The model at the club is slightly different. The ownership group, as I say they are a wonderful group of people, but they have a way of working and they want to bring in young players and look to see them develop and move on. So if you look at some of those players, a lot of them were 24 and below. The ones who were above that were free transfers. As a manager, you are always the figurehead of the club but there is a recruitment team in place… Guys that work very, very hard at the club”.

Liverpool's signing of Balotelli was controversial from the very start, given Rodgers had categorically denied after a friendly against AC Milan in August 2014 that he had any interest in the Italian. Things changed, however, within three weeks but the Northern Irishman said a lack of options and the willingness of FSG saw Balotelli arrive on Merseyside for an ill-fated spell. “What we wanted and what we needed was a player who could really press at the top end of the field. It wasn't just a goalscorer we were after. Luis Suarez was giving us so much more than that. That ability to press was something we wanted to work. After the AC Milan game, I was asked a question and I felt Mario was someone who wouldn't work for us, the profile of what we were after. But come the end of the summer, we were struggling to get someone who could do the role we wanted. I think the ownership group thought that this could be a player I could develop. He had had his issues, Mario. But Mario has got wonderful talent. Make no mistake about that. You see him on the training ground every day, 6ft 3ins, he is fast, he is strong and he has got a touch. They were thinking that maybe he is a £50m player that we can get for £16m. We can bring him in and we can develop him in the way I had developed some of the other players. So, when the owners are wanting you to go down that route and there is no other options, then of course you give it a go” he said.