Liverpool: Balotelli to be another late-blossoming Reds striking hit

Mario Balotelli isn't alone in being scorned initially at Liverpool

Mario Balotelli wouldn't be the first Liverpool striker to thrive after a poor start, as these examples prove...

It took 13 appearances and until mid-February, but Mario Balotelli has finally scored a Premier League goal for Liverpool.

The headline magnet picked a perfect moment too, directing in the clincher in a 3-2 victory over fellow top-four candidates Tottenham to nudge his side to within three points of fourth. They are still available at 5.14/1 to close 2014/15 in a Champions League-paying position.

Many suspect that this will be recalled as a rare moment of joy in a forgettable and brief Anfield stay. However, there are at least three examples this century alone of strikers making disappointing starts to their Liverpool careers and thoroughly redeeming themselves...

Luis Suarez

It is easy to forget now, yet in Suarez's first half-season at Liverpool, media criticism wasn't focussed on any offensive words spewing from his mouth or where he stuck his teeth, but rather on the theory that, for all his obvious talent, he wasn't a natural finisher.

The reason that concept was allowed so much airtime and column space was that he netted just four times in his first 13 Premier League appearances, and exclusively against mid-table opposition.

Even the Uruguayan's first completed campaign was underwhelming, as he tallied just 11 in 31 in 2011/12, before ascending to 23 in 33 in 2012/13 and 31 in 33 in 2013/14.

Peter Crouch

Liverpool paid 7 million to acquire Crouch from relegated Southampton in 2005, though he spent his first few months on Merseyside playing the part of laughing stock.

Whereas Balotelli was able to snack on Champions League and Capital One Cup goals before his mixed moment of Premier League celebration and relief, Crouch failed to score in any of his initial 18 games for the club in all competitions before delivering against Wigan in December.

Inspired by how much trust Rafael Benitez had shown in him during that brutal sequence, the man fated to always be tagged "beanpole striker" ended the season with 13 goals, including a Merseyside derby opener and a winner against Man United.

He averaged a strike every two Premier League starts across 2006/07 and 2007/08 before being sold to Portsmouth for a 4 million profit.

Emile Heskey

It is unfair that Heskey's deployment as a figure of fun nowadays stops people acknowledging his prior effectiveness. There is a reason why he played over 200 times for Liverpool during a period in which they won six trophies and received 62 England caps amidst the supposed golden generation.

However, things didn't start brilliantly after his move to Anfield in March 2000. The former Leicester forward was shut out in his first four outings and ten of his total 12 that term. With time came form though: Heskey fired 22 times as the Reds sealed an FA Cup-League Cup-UEFA Cup treble in 2000/01.