Mario Balotelli Blasted by Former AC Milan Team-Mate Adel Taarabt

Mario Balotelli is not enjoying a happy start to life at Anfield after moving to Liverpool in the summer, and he has now been blasted by former AC Milan team-mate Adel Taarabt.    

The QPR midfielder spent the second half of the 2013-14 season on loan at the San Siro in what turned out to be the final months of Balotelli's year-and-a-half-long stint at Milan.

Ben Hoskins/Getty Images

The Italian striker then moved to Liverpool in the summer for £16 million but has failed to score once in the Premier League for the Reds thus far, per WhoScored.com, and Taarabt suggests that is no surprise to him, per PA Sport (h/t Eurosport):

"

Balotelli? Everyone told me he was amazing and I played with him and I can say he is strong but he didn't seem to me as though he was world class. He is an ordinary player, not a phenomenon. He is someone who has a strong shot but he doesn't play for the team. And if he does, he doesn't score as is the case right now at Liverpool. He's had so many chances, from (Manchester) City to Milan, and he's thrown them away.

"

Indeed, the 24-year-old Balotelli has moved between clubs often having already plied his trade at Inter and Manchester City before Milan and Liverpool, invariably moving on under a controversial cloud.

Undoubtedly talented but often maligned for his inconsistency, Balotelli very nearly broke his Premier League Liverpool duck as the Reds lost 3-0 to Manchester United on Sunday, but he was denied on several occasions by Red Devils keeper David de Gea, per BBC Sport's Phil McNulty:

Whether Balotelli will improve for Liverpool remains to be seen, but recent reports suggest he may be set for a return to Inter, per Paul Hetherington of the Daily Star.

The Milan outfit are currently short on attacking options but, on current form, Balotelli does not look to be the answer and no doubt Taarabt would advise Inter against the move.