Mario Balotelli brands Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher a 'wonderful hater' on Twitter after free transfer to Nice

Carragher won two FA Cups and three League Cups during his 17-year career on Merseyside

Mario Balotelli is revealed as a Nice player (Getty)

Mario Balotelli has branded Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher a “wonderful hater” and a “bad player” after the former defender celebrated his Anfield departure last week.

Italy international Balotelli finally left Liverpool to join Nice on a free transfer after spending the entirety of last season on loan at AC Milan, where he scored one goal in 20 appearances, prompting Carragher to say “free is still paying over the odds”.

Carragher won two FA Cups and three League Cups during his 17-year career on Merseyside as well as lifting the Champions League in 2005, along the way to making 737 appearances.

But Balotelli, who was fiercely unpopular with several prominent former Liverpool players, replied in kind when Carragher criticised his performances for the club on social media.

The 26-year-old wrote: “Jamie Carragher, bad player, wonderful hater @Carra23 , who cares”.

Also posting a picture of golden trophy carrying the message “best hater” and featuring a famous picture of his own goal celebration, Balotelli's brazen tweet received over 23,000 retweets in 24 hours.

The former Manchester City forward joined the Reds from Milan in 2014 for £16m - chiefly to replace Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez – but scored just one league goal during his debut season and was later loaned back to Italy.

The 26-year-old's agent Mino Raiola also criticised Liverpool. He said: "Mario has been exemplary. He never complained about training alone. To say that it was wrong of [Jurgen] Klopp would be an understatement. He was a piece of s*** about it.”