Fabio Borini Prepared for Second Chance at Liverpool

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has handed Fabio Borini a career lifeline at Anfield after including the Italian striker in the club's Premier League squad for the new season.

Borini appeard on the brink of leaving The Reds but failed to agree a move to Sunderland or Queens Park Rangers during the summer transfer window, eventually rejecting a switch to Loftus Road on deadline day.

The 23 year old hasn't played for Liverpool for 17 months having spent last term on loan at Sunderland where he scored seven league goals but he is set to return to the club's first team after being given a vote of confidence by Rodgers.

The former Roma and Swansea City forward indicated he was ready to fight for his place at Liverpool earlier this week after expressing his relief at remaining at the club this season on Twitter.

Daniel Sturridge's impressive form last season and the signing of Mario Balotelli is likely to see Borini's opportunities restricted to cameo appearances from the bench however the player's agent has not ruled out his client leaving Liverpool during the January transfer window.

Borini's representative Marco De Marchi, QPR manager Harry Redknapp and owner Tony Fernandes have all confirmed that Borini turned down a move to the capital during the final hours of the transfer window after failing to agree terms with the newly-promoted club.

The failure to sign Borini sees Rangers begin their attempts to survive relegation short of attacking options but Redknapp is convinced the club have enough to cope during the first half of the campaign.

"We got Sandro and I got Niko Kranjcar back – two outstanding players," he explained. "I've got Charlie Austin, I've got Bobby Zamora and without Bobby we wouldn't be where we are today and he's a fantastic player still.

"We're ok, we'll get on with it. We need goals from everywhere really, we can't rely on Charlie [Austin] just to score we need three or four others to weigh in with goals this year."