Despite his recent remarks in which he described his admiration of the Italian striker Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has laughed off suggestions that he is about to sign the AC Milan striker telling the Daily Mirror.
“I was asked the question about Balotelli and spoke about what a talent he is and excellent player he is,” said Rodgers.
“I can categorically tell you that he will not be at Liverpool.
“He is a wonderful player, but an AC Milan player. I just gave my opinion of him, but that doesn’t mean I will be signing him.”
Liverpool will now face Manchester United in the final of the International Champions Cup in Miami’s Sun Life Stadium on Monday evening.
Rodgers has praised Manchester United’s new manager Louis van Gaal for his record managing top European clubs, but has warned him that it will be no pushover in the Premiership.
“I’ve watched Louis van Gaal for many years and he’s a very good manager. It was unfortunate what happened to David Moyes, but I saw Holland at the World Cup and they did very well,” he said.
“He [van Gaal] will look forward to the challenge, but it will be different to any other league he has been involved in.
“United have shown over last 20-odd years that they’ve been a threat and I’m sure that will be the case this year.
“I only think of Liverpool, but I would suspect they would expect to be challengers again.
“All games out here have been competitive and this will be no different.
“It’s a big rivalry and it won’t have any bearing on how the season pans out. But we’ve come all this way and I am sure we all want to finish it off with a really good game.”
