AC Milan Transfer News: Cassano Up for Sale? Will Motta and Balotelli Come?

AC Milan are reportedly shopping Antonio Cassano and Genoa seem prepared to make a move.

The Italian international joined Milan in January after a bitter divorce with now relegated side Sampdoria. Cassano netted four goals and assisted four times in Serie A for the Rossoneri.

It now looks like a move back to the city of Genoa is possible. Trusted Milan fan site Rossoneri Blog followed up a report out of Gazzetta dello Sport that revealed Genoa CFC are interested.

The move will likely only come at Cassano's request. He returned from an extended break after international duty with Italy to join Milan before the Audi Cup, where they drew Bayern Munich and Internacional; but for placing purposes, they lost in penalties.

Cassano was unimpressive during the Munich trip. Milan CEO Adriano Galliani stated that Cassano needs to lose a few pounds as he is not in the shape he should be. This could greatly hurt his chances of cracking the team—already difficult by the big three of Pato, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho.

Cassano has been told by Cesare Prandelli that if he wants to play for Italy at Euro 2012, he needs to be playing first team football. Now his time at Milan could be soon over.

In terms of a search for new players, Milan have reportedly been keeping an eye on two players they know fairly well.

According to reports, the champions are interested in Inter Milan midfielder Thiago Motta. The 28-year-old Italian is also on the radar of Arsenal, but no formal bids have been placed. It is likely that a move for Motta will only be pursued if a transfer for Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo falls through.

The 26-year-old Montolivo has been the most pursued player by Milan this summer by the look of things, with the club reportedly offering €6 million plus half the rights of Milan forward Alberto Paloschi in exchange for the Viola captain. Fiorentina value their star at €10 million, but Milan may be unwilling to up their offer.

Deals between Milan and Inter have never been easy, so Milan are hoping for Montolivo to be sure. The senior team deal between the clubs involved the loan of Mancini to Milan for half of the 2009-10 season. Before that, the Andrea Pirlo Milan move was the last big move.

Milan may be looking into a former Inter player should Cassano indeed be on the move. Mario Balotelli may indeed become a Milan target this summer. Manchester City recently acquired Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid, knocking the 20-year-old Italian bad boy down the pecking order. Making things worse for Balotelli at City, he is not very well liked at the moment after his antics during a preseason friendly last week.

Balotelli had a golden opportunity to shoot or lay off to Edin Dzeko for a sure goal against the Los Angeles Galaxy, but he decided to spin and do a back heel in front of the keeper. The attempt rolled lazily wide. Roberto Mancini immediately replaced him with James Milner and Balotelli was seen storming away from the bench while being hounded by the former Inter boss.

There have always been rumors of a Balotelli move to Milan. While playing for Inter Milan as a teenager, he made a talk show appearance wearing an AC Milan shirt and has made it no secret that he was and is an AC Milan fan. His attitude may be a turn off to Milan, but the club have a lot of egos that they have handled very well in the past year.

It is believed that the deal Milan would seek would be akin to their move in getting Zlatan Ibrahimovic—taking him on loan this season and then purchasing him next summer. However, Roma reportedly have been interested in Balotelli and could try and make a move; therefor, Milan would have to act soon and with confidence if they truly want the youngster.

There is still no word on the identity of Mr. X, but I will be keeping up on the latest news and gossip regarding the issue, as well as all other Milan news and information.