Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli to visit groin specialist as injury disrupts AC Milan loan

AC Milan have confirmed Liverpool loanee Mario Balotelli will visit a groin specialist as the two clubs look to agree upon a fresh approach to aid the striker in his recovery from injury. The Italian, who returned to the San Siro on a season-long loan deal in August, has not played since the defeat in Genoa on 27 September and manager Sinisa Mihajlovic confirmed in October that the problem was "more serious than first thought".

Balotelli, 25, had made just four appearances to begin his second stint with the Rossoneri before injury struck, with his only goal of the 2015-16 Serie A campaign to date coming in the entertaining 3-2 victory at Udinese. With the timescale for his recovery still uncertain, the player will now head to Denmark where he will meet with the chief surgeon of the capital's Sports Orthopedic Research Centre and the head of Aspetar Sports Groin Pain Centre.

"AC Milan announce that today Mario Balotelli was subjected to a further consultation in Copenhagen with Professor Per Holmich," Milan confirmed in a short statement released via their official website. "The medical staff of AC Milan and Liverpool will agree shortly a new course of treatment."

Having arrived at Anfield in a £16m ($24.1m) deal in the summer of 2014 and stayed relatively clear of the sort of unhelpful controversy that marked his time at Manchester City, Balotelli was unable to impose himself under manager Brendan Rodgers and notched just four goals for Liverpool during a desperately disappointing debut campaign.

Quite how Rodgers's sacking and the subsequent appointment of Jurgen Klopp as his successor might impact upon his future at Liverpool is certainly a topic open to speculation. Although many perceived his loan back to Milan was simply a pre-cursor to a permanent switch, his main gripe over a struggle to settle on Merseyside was that he was not ideally suited to the previous manager's favoured system.

Rumours of a potential early return to the club did surface in October after the Reds lost new signing Danny Ings for the season due to a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, while Daniel Sturridge and Christian Benteke both missed time through injury. But such a possibility seems unlikely despite reports Klopp was set to recall up to 17 players loaned out during the previous regime for assessment during the international break.