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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Balotelli, Berahino, Payet, Dybala, Pochettino

The good news for Liverpool fans is that one of the biggest stars in world football will be coming to Anfield in the summer. A £20m striker who has starred in the Premier League, Serie A and on the international stage. A player with pace, power, skill, finishing ability and a gift for the spectacular, and he’s still just 25 years old.

The bad news for Liverpool fans is that it’s Mario Balotelli.

The quirky Italian was shipped back to the San Siro in the summer, a move which tends to bring out the best in him and restore his goalscoring touch and monetary value, but this time it hasn’t worked.

Balotelli has struggled with injuries this season and scored just once in nine league games for AC Milan, who are planning to send him back to Merseyside despite the Reds wanting just £5.5m to make the deal permanent, reports the Italian website Calciomercato.

For anyone getting withdrawal symptoms from Saido Berahino transfer news, the Express and Star has claimed there is no “gentleman’s agreement” between West Brom and Spurs over the unsettled striker. According to some reports, Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace had given his counterpart Daniel Levy first refusal on Berahino in the summer, but the Express and Star says that isn’t true. Admittedly this is not especially interesting Saido Berahino news, but it’s the best we’ve got - sorry.

The interest of various chairmen may be piqued by a story in the Mirror, which claims that Dimitri Payet’s agent has demanded a £50,000 wage hike for his client in light of the West Ham playermaker’s excellent form. Hammers chiefs are apparently “staggered” by the demand, which would increase the Frenchman’s salary to £125,000 a week.

Perhaps Payet’s agent should familiarise himself with the tale of the last West Ham player to make outrageous demands. Mohamed Diame, the midfielder who said he wanted to leave the Hammers to move to a top six club (and ended up getting relegated with Hull City), could be on his way back to London with Crystal Palace, reports the Hull Daily Mail (no relation).

Elsewhere, Bayern Munich are being tipped to sign Paulo Dybala from Juventus (Gazzetta World), Vito Mannone has revealed that he almost left Sunderland in January (Sunderland Echo) and Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is set to sign a new contract with the Foxes (Sun).

In manager gossip, Manchester United want to talk to Mauricio Pochettino about replacing Louis van Gaal at the end of the season (Sun) and Juventus are eyeing Manuel Pellegrini as a potential replacement for Chelsea target Massimiliano Allegri (Express).

Finally, former United keeper Victor Valdes has complained how he was so isolated at Old Trafford that he could have knocked himself unconscious and swallowed his tongue and no one at the club would have been around to help (Times). If that’s the kind of cheery chat he comes out with, it’s not surprising nobody wanted to hang around with him.

@darlingkevin