Mario Balotelli will not leave Liverpool until he has increased his value to 60-70 million euros, according to his agent Mino Raiola, who says it was a big mistake letting him leave the Premier League in the first place.
Balotelli has yet to score a single Premier League goal since his 16 million-pound move from AC Milan last summer, with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admitting that the striker does not fit into his style of play.
The Italy international spent 18 months back in Milan after leaving Manchester City, and Raiola now deeply regrets pushing for Balotelli to leave the Etihad for the San Siro in the 2013 winter transfer window.
Moving Balotelli on from City to Milan was "one of the biggest mistakes of my life," Raiola has told La Gazzetta dello Sport, explaining how he reasoned with his heart rather than his brain that time.
Raiola said earlier this week that Balotelli wants to stay at Anfield, and he wants to make sure that happens. And manager Brendan Rodgers still believes the player can turn it around on Merseyside.
"Of all the champions I have dealt with, I've never managed one who has suffered more injustices than Mario," Raiola said. "People just don't know him. The truth is Mario is an insecure lad and, due to this insecurity, he tends to do some ridiculous things.
"I've always been one who wanted to make my players happy. With everybody else, I've always done things my way, but not with him. 'I need my mum and my friends in Italy,' he said. And being a father myself and wanting him to be happy, I took him back to Italy from City.
"I should have told him: 'You are not going back to Italy. City are a big club and they will always support you. This is the football that matters and you want out of it.'"
That, or something similar, is the discussion Raiola held with Balotelli earlier this week. This time, Raiola is telling his player to stay at Anfield for the long haul and hopes the approach will work with the 24-year-old, for his and Liverpool's sake.
"Mario is the kind of player who can change a game in two or three moments so they've got to adapt to him and he's got to adapt to them," Raiola added. "Liverpool are different to other clubs. They cannot afford to have 10 players doing all the running for one superstar.
"I saw him on Monday and told him: 'You've got a four-year contract here and I'm not taking you anywhere else. Either you leave Liverpool for 60-70 million euros, and I win my bet, or you will die there.'
"It's the first time I've spoken in such a way to a player. I saw him relaxed, changed and different to how he was at Milan. He was used to everybody liking him and finding room wherever he was, but it's not like that at Liverpool. Either you do as they say, or you're out.
"This period with Liverpool is the biggest lesson he has had. He's applying himself a lot now and his private life has calmed down too. It's not worth asking if Liverpool are the right club for him any more -- they are the only club for him."
Just like Paris Saint-Germain are the only club for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, another of Raiola's high-profile clients.
The Sweden international still has just over a year left to run on his contract in the French capital and Raiola says he may stay on longer, realising that sometimes it is better in life to cherish what you have got rather than pursue another dream. Like with Ibra's move to Barcelona.
"Don't forget that Inter Milan won the Champions League after Ibra had left," Raiola continued. "It was a mistake [to leave Inter], but it was his dream to go to Barca and he just followed that dream.
"[Pep] Guardiola is a jerk as a person, but a great coach. It was he who convinced him and he should have been the first to protect him, since he had wanted him.
"He made a big mistake when he kissed the Barcelona badge, for sure, but he did that because in his mind, it was the last contract he wanted to sign."
While he is disappointed with the way Guardiola treated Ibrahimovic, Raiola says he has a great deal of respect for Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.
"He's great at exploiting all the potential he has got," Raiola said. "He learnt management from his wife, who is a psychologist. I've got a lot of respect for the self-made man and he has risen to the top of the world from out of nowhere.
"Maybe he is a bit insecure because he was not a great player himself, but his tactics of attacking before being attacked himself makes him rise above this."
La Gazzetta has tweeted out their front page, showcasing the exclusive interview with Raiola:
