Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that signing striker Mario Balotelli in the summer was a "calculated risk" that the club had to take.

The 24-year has failed to make an impact for the Reds since joining from AC Milan in a deal worth £16m in the summer, scoring just twice in his 14 appearances in all competitions to date.

However, Rodgers insists that bringing the controversial Italian to Anfield was the correct choice at the time, given Liverpool's apparent lack of firepower up front.

"As as a club we felt that buying Mario was the solution at the time," he is quoted as saying by The Mirror. "In the summer, we had Rickie Lambert. Fabio Borini looked 100 per cent that he was leaving, and obviously Daniel Sturridge has shown in his career so far that he gets injuries.

"To go into the season with no one else would have been very difficult for us. It would have been unfair to leave Rickie Lambert, as a 32-year-old, as the only other striker that we had. I felt it was a risk we needed to take with Mario because, as a group, we couldn't afford not to a that time.

"It was obviously late on and we needed to have someone in. It's something that we can't regret now. I made it clear at the beginning it was a calculated risk - and that is why he probably cost the money he did."

Balotelli has been linked with numerous clubs over the past couple of months, with Liverpool reportedly ready to offload him when the transfer window reopens in the New Year.