Mario Balotelli fan gets tattoo of on-loan Liverpool striker's surname and he has no idea why

Balotelli, who is on a season-long loan spell with AC Milan, appreciated the support but questioned why the fan would do such a thing

A football fan has had Mario Balotelli's surname tattooed onto his back (Instagram/mb459)

A football fan has had Mario Balotelli’s surname tattooed onto his back along with his squad number, and the Italian striker has no idea why.

Balotelli, who is currently on a season-long loan with AC Milan, has recently returned from a three-and-a-half month lay-off after undergoing surgery on an injured groin after just five Serie A appearances.

The 25-year-old returned in the 2-0 league victory over Fiorentina on Sunday when he replaced reported Chelsea target Carlos Bacca in the 87th-minute, and he could feature in Saturday’s trip to Empoli as Milan look to try and close the gap on the top three in a bid to qualify for the Champions League next season, with eight points separating them from their city rivals Inter Milan in third.

Deemed surplus to requirements at Anfield this season, Balotelli is back in his homeland trying to earn his place in Italy’s European Championship squad for this summer’s tournament in France, but he had something more bizarre on his mind on Tuesday after a fan sent him a picture.

The picture, sent by Instagram user @haza3f, revealed a tattoo of ‘Balotelli’ across his shoulders and upper back, with the Italy international’s squad number 45 inked just below it.

And while Balotelli appreciated the gesture, he did admit that he found it “a bit crazy”. He re-posted the picture on his own page along with the caption: “THANK YOU for the support but don't you think is a bit crazy?”

 

A photo posted by Mario Balotelli (@mb459) on Jan 19, 2016 at 5:04am PST

Balotelli’s name has worked itself back into the headlines this week, after his former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admitted that he never wanted to sign the striker but was forced to when his other targets were not attainable.

“We needed a player who could press at the top of the pitch; it wasn’t just a goalscorer we were after because Luis Suárez was giving us so much more than that,” Rodgers told Sky sports earlier this week.

“After a friendly against Milan I was asked the question [if he would sign Balotelli] and I felt Mario wasn’t someone who suited the profile of what we were after. But come the end of the summer when we were struggling to get in the type of player we wanted, the ownership thought this was perhaps a player I could develop.

“He’s a wonderful talent, there’s no doubt about that; you see him on the training ground every day – tall, strong, great touch. They were thinking this is a £50m player we could maybe get for £16m. When the owners are wanting you to go down that route and there’s no other option, you give it a go.”

However, it remains to be seen if Balotelli has a future at Liverpool when he returns from Milan at the end of the season, given he has not worked under Jürgen Klopp before in his career and the German manager is believed to have targets of his own to rebuild the squad with in the summer.