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Liverpool striker exit: Ligue 1 club deny holding talks
MARIO BALOTELLI’S surprise move to Nice has been quashed by the club’s president.
Mario Balotelli on loan at AC Milan last season
Reports earlier today suggested the Italian striker had flown out to France to complete a deal.
Balotelli has been deemed surplus to requirements by Jurgen Klopp.
Though a host of clubs are chasing the 26-year-old, Liverpool are struggling to shift him.
But a move to Nice doesn’t seem to be on the cards.
“They didn’t call us to make us an offer,” the club’s president Jean-Pierre Rivère told French broadcasters RMC.
Mario Balotelli - Spotlight On
“We’re looking for a striker and therefore the rumour mill is free to start. Balotelli is one name among others. I would like to calm this clamour, it’s not something that’s active.
“Would we take Balotelli? I believe that you should never close a door in life. He’s a player I don’t know, above all I know his reputation.
“If I took him, people would say ‘that’s it, President Rivère has gone mad’. Except if I’d listened to the Press I’d never have gone for Claude Puel, the same for [Hatem] Ben Arfa.
“That said, just because it went well with Hatem last year it doesn’t mean we can reproduce that every year.”
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