Liverpool also
Liverpool are planning a lucrative contract offer for Inter Milan starlet Mario Balotelli.
Corriere dello Sport says Liverpool are aware that Inter are struggling to secure the 17 year-old striker to a new deal.
Inter are offering Balotelli £350,000-a-year to re-sign and Liverpool are ready to make a superior bid to bring the youngster to Anfield in the summer.
Chelsea have also made enquiries after the teenager in recent weeks. (tf)
Chelsea want Balotelli
Chelsea striker Drogba has been strongly linked with a transfer away from Stamford Bridge for several months now, and he is widely expected to move on to pastures new in the summer.
Inter are believed to be extremely interested in signing the Ivorian, particularly if his former boss at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, takes over the reigns at San Siro from Roberto Mancini.
According to Tuttosport Chelsea are prepared to sell the 30-year-old to the Nerazzuri, but only if wonderkid Mario Balotelli is included in an exchange deal.
Balotelli is widely regarded as one of Italy’s most promising young talents, and the 17-year-old has burst onto the scene this season, recently scoring in consecutive games in Serie A against Atalanta and Fiorentina.
Two Chelsea scouts travelled to Italy several weeks ago to watch him in action for Inter’s youth team, and were left very impressed.
Inter are unlikely to consider releasing Balotelli, however this viewpoint could change if he refuses a new contract offer until 2013. Balotelli’s life story is a very interesting one.
He was born in Palermo to Ghanaian immigrants, but at the age of just three a court ruling entrusted him to the Balotelli family who lived in Brescia. (tmw)