LIVERPOOL -- Mario Balotelli's loan move to AC Milan will be good for him and Liverpool, according to Brendan Rodgers.
Balotelli, 25, has returned to the Rossoneri on a season's loan, 12 months after leaving for Merseyside to sign a three-year contract with the Reds.
The Italy international's £16 million move to Anfield has not worked out, as he scored just one Premier League goal last season and frustrated Rodgers with a series of poor performances.
Balotelli suggested on his departure that Liverpool's tactics were partly to blame for his failure at the club.
Rodgers refused to be drawn into an argument on that point at a news conference ahead of Saturday's Premier League home match against West Ham, but did say it was best for the striker to leave.
He said: "It's a good move for Mario, for both parties. He goes to play and he gets a season of playing football back in his homeland. That will be good for him."
Balotelli's Anfield career is effectively over, even though his contract runs until 2017, with Rodgers leaving him out of all of the club's preseason games and ordering him to train away from the first-team squad.
But the manager does believe that Serbian winger Lazar Markovic has a future at Liverpool.
Markovic, 21, is set to join Turkish club Fenerbahce on a season's loan after struggling to establish himself at Anfield.
But Rodgers sees long-term potential in the Serbia international, who joined the Reds from Benfica for £20m in July 2014.
Asked if Markovic had a future at Anfield, the manager said: "He does, yes."