Liverpool has signed Italy striker Mario Balotelli from AC Milan, taking a calculated gamble on a headline-grabbing player known as much for his controversies as his goals.

Nineteen months after ending a 2½-year spell with Manchester City to play for his boyhood club, Balotelli returns to the English Premier League as a replacement for Luis Suarez — another of world football’s talented but disruptive stars.

Liverpool has been looking to strengthen its strikeforce after selling Suarez to Barcelona for $130 million.

During his time at City, in which he won the league title, Balotelli was sent off four times, threw a dart at a youth-team player and was involved in an incident that saw fireworks let off in his bathroom.