Mario Balotelli has two months to prove he has a future at Liverpool or see Brendan Rodgers accept that his £16m gamble has not worked out and use the January transfer window to buy a more reliable goalscorer. “We brought in the player to give him a chance and we will continue to do that,” Rodgers said. “He is working hard to try to fit into the team ethos here but only time will tell. We will see come January what the team needs.”

In addition to his disappointing evening in the Champions League on Wednesday Balotelli found himself at the centre of an investigation by Greater Manchester Police the following lunchtime. In Wythenshawe on Thursday, apparently visiting his mother, Rose Barwuah, Balotelli is alleged to have confronted a female resident who was taking photographs of his red Ferrari. According to the woman he got “threateningly close” and demanded she stop. GMP have confirmed they are looking into the incident but have yet to speak to all the parties concerned. A Liverpool spokesman said the club would not be commenting until all the facts had been established.

The misfiring Italian striker was not only hauled off at half-time in the Champions League game against Real Madrid but managed to make himself even less popular on Merseyside by swapping shirts with Pepe as he made his way down the tunnel at the interval. Graeme Souness was so enraged by that last act he could not bring himself to speak about it as a Sky Sports pundit on the night, though he has since questioned the player’s intelligence and suggested Rodgers would end up spending all his time defending Balotelli.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers comments on forward Mario Balotelli’s shirt-swap Guardian

“It was a very brave move to take him on because you look at the quality of managers who have tried and given up on him,” Souness said. The list includes Roberto Mancini (twice), Cesare Prandelli and Jose Mourinho, the last of whom said Balotelli might only have one brain cell. “This is a 24-year -old man, not a 16-year-old boy, and he is just not seeing the picture of when to run in behind centre halves,” Souness said. “He looks physically fit and powerful so I am wondering if he doesn’t have a football brain. He is not showing any enthusiasm, he has to have a personality change. If you consider on his time at Inter, Milan and Manchester City before Liverpool, he needs a sea change.”

Balotelli has been disciplined internally for the shirt exchange, which clearly upset Rodgers at the time, though the manager does not yet see the endlessly controversial player as a lost cause.

“Mario is not uncontrollable, he’s certainly not that,” he said. “I take responsibility for every player I bring in, the manager always will, so there is no problem for me and the issue is very clear with the owners. We knew what we were getting. I said before that it was a calculated risk to bring someone in and nothing has changed. I haven’t been overly surprised by many of the things that have happened. We took in a young player with football potential. He still has that potential, though whether we are going to get the focus and concentration that is required to play at the top level remains to be seen. At this moment in time he is working hard and we are still hopeful. We work every day on improving the players, and he is one of them.

“Of course he hasn’t yet scored the goals we would like or want but we need to keep giving him the opportunity. I am the type of manager who will give players an opportunity, even players whose confidence needs building back up or people who have been written off elsewhere. I understand the criticism that will come my way because of that; you accept it as part of being a manager. You’ll take the praise if things go well and you have to take the responsibility if they don’t. Either way I can deal with it.”

Before signing Balotelli the Liverpool manager “categorically” denied any interest in the Italy international, before performing a u-turn he may now be regretting. The reduced price of £16m was one reason why the deal was tempting, although as another former Liverpool player, Jamie Redknapp, said on Sky, there is usually a reason why goods are going cheap in the supermarket. Rodgers also promised the season would not turn into the Mario Balotelli show shortly after signing the player, and despite his press conferences becoming increasingly dominated by his striker’s state of mind, he is still attempting to hold that line. “Mario is treated like any other player,” he said. “The boy has genuinely tried very hard. As long as he does his best that is all I can ask, though whether his best is going to be good enough remains to be seen.

“We knew there was an element of risk in the signing but I don’t mind players that are different. I am not put off by individuality. It would be boring if all players were exactly the same. The key is whether a player can fit into a team or whether he sees himself as an individual.”

Rodgers is close to the crux of the matter there: it is precisely Balotelli’s lack of team awareness that has caused his career to be such a chequered one. The manager now faces a decision over whether to play Balotelli against Hull on Saturday, in the hope that a goal or two would boost his confidence, or bench him as his form demands and risk his self-belief sinking even lower. While Rodgers says he knew what he was getting, Balotelli suddenly seems less of the endearing airhead he appeared at Manchester City and more like hard work. If the Liverpool manager does not like boring players, he bought exactly the right centre-forward.