Fabio Borini wants to forge a productive Liverpool partnership with Mario Balotelli but realises he needs to be picked first

Italian striker admits the wealth of options Brendan Rodgers has in attack means Borini must show why he should start

Fabio Bornin and Mario Balotelli (Getty Images)

Liverpool forward Fabio Borini believes he could forge a good partnership with fellow Italian Mario Balotelli but admits the variety of strikers at Anfield offers manager Brendan Rodgers plenty of permutations.

Balotelli has yet to find his form with just one goal, against Bulgarian minnows Ludogorets, in eight matches and was dropped for last weekend's win over West Brom.

Borini, who rejected summer offers to move to Sunderland and QPR, has had even less pitch time with just three appearances, with only one start.

The 23-year-old has shared the field with Balotelli for just 98 minutes but is confident they could bring out the best in each other.

"I have played with him before and found it really well on the pitch," he said.

"Not just because of the language but we were born with the same idea of football, as Italians, so it's really easy to understand each other even without talking.

"He's a player that can change the game whenever he wants. It's a tough league, probably the toughest in Europe - and I think he understands that.

"In the games, he runs a lot and is really giving himself to the team, being very unselfish."

With Daniel Sturridge set to return from a six-week absence with a thigh strain when the Premier League campaign resumes next weekend, Borini and Balotelli's replacement against West Brom Rickie Lambert, will find opportunities harder to come by.

Fabio Borini has made three appearances this season (Getty Images)

However, that does not faze the Italian who thinks Liverpool's quartet of strikers provides essential variety.

"We have four completely different players so there is a good choice of players in the squad, because we can all do different things," he told liverpoolfc.com.

"We can all play together and we can all play on our own up front when it is a 4-3-3.

"It is a good selection of strikers and we can all learn from each other.

"I know there are some things that Rickie might do better than me, so I can learn from him. It's the same with Daniel and Mario.

"We all learn from each other if we have the right attitude. We can all play together.

"I've played in lots of teams but that's something I've never seen before - such a different selection of strikers."