Balotelli 'may return to Milan'

BaMario Balotelli has been linked with a shock return to AC Milan after club CEO Adriano Galliani spoke of his love for the Liverpool misfit.

Balotelli's club career has stalled at Anfield after joining the Reds from Milan last year and the 25-year-old played his last game for Italy at the Azzurri's ill-fated World Cup campaign in Brazil.

But with former Sampdoria coach Sinisa Mihajlovic now in charge of the seven-time European champions, reports in Italy claim Balotelli is on his way back to the club.

Galliani indicated that both he and club president Silvio Berlusconi would support Balotelli's return to the club.

"Some loved ones leave and then they return: the president and I are both romantic souls," Galliani told Sky Sport.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Balotelli has already spoken with Mihajlovic and the club are preparing an offer that would see the striker complete a loan deal.

The possible return of the troubled star -- whose off-field antics while a player with Manchester City only fuelled his notoriety -- is being given a mixed reception.

In a snap poll on Gazzetta's website 74% of readers believed it to be "the wrong move" for the club, with only 26% in favour.

Balotelli began his professional career under Roberto Mancini at Inter Milan, when Mihajlovic was the coach's assistant, in 2007.

He spent three troubled years at Manchester City in 2010-2013, a period marked by regular off-field antics and a poor disciplinary record that saw him fall out with Mancini.

Balotelli returned to Italy, signing for Inter's bitter rivals Milan in January 2013, but was sold to Liverpool in the summer of 2014.
Source: AFP