Rodgers rules out Balotelli bid, Real signs Navas
Print Edition
LIVERPOOL manager Brendan Rodgers has rejected speculation linking him with a bid for AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli.
Rodgers spoke about the Italy international in glowing terms when he was asked about him last week, but the Northern Irishman said his admiration would not translate into a formal offer for the 23-year-old.
“I can categorically tell you Mario Balotelli will not be at Liverpool,” Rodgers told a press conference in Miami on Sunday, in comments that were widely published in the British media.
“In my last press conference I was asked a question about Mario Balotelli and I talked about what a talent he was; what an excellent player he was.
“And the next day it was wrote (sic) as if we were signing him. I just gave my perception of him as a player. It shouldn’t be transmitted into us signing the player.”
Liverpool lost star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona last month, but Rodgers had previously brought in England international Rickie Lambert from Southampton.
Teenage Belgium striker Divock Origi has also joined the club from Lille, but he was loaned back to the French side.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid says it has signed Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas from Levante following his stellar World Cup campaign.
The Champions League winner said on its website on Sunday that Navas agreed to a six-year deal and will be presented at the Santiago Bernabeu today after undergoing a medical test.
The club did not disclose financial details of the deal.
Navas was one of Costa Rica's best players in its surprising run to the quarterfinals at the World Cup in Brazil, where it beat Uruguay, Italy and Greece before losing on penalties to the Netherlands. Navas made a string of saves in that quarterfinal as Costa Rica held the Dutch 0-0 through 120 minutes.
Also, Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu has joined German club VfB Stuttgart on a season-long loan, following a similar deal last season with Valencia.
The 22-year-old, who moved to Chelsea from Barcelona in 2011, signed a three-year contract recently with the Premier League club but is apparently not part of manager Jose Mourinho’s immediate plans.
His move to the Bundesliga takes the number of players out on loan from Chelsea to 13.
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