Genoa surprisingly fired coach Alberto Gilardino on Tuesday and reportedly already has Patrick Vieira lined up to replace him — which could have implications for new forward Mario Balotelli.

Genoa is just a point above the Serie A drop zone having lost half of its league matches. But the news still came as a surprise as Gilardino appeared to have turned things around, picking up four points from the two matches before the international break and the future looking more positive with the team’s injury problems starting to ease.

“Genoa CFC announces that Alberto Gilardino has been relieved of his duties,” the club said in a brief statement.

“The club thanks mister Gilardino for the goals achieved together over the years and wishes him the best in his career.”

Gilardino initially took charge of Genoa on an interim basis in December 2022 but was given the job on a permanent basis following a string of positive results. He steered the team to promotion from Serie B and to an impressive 11th place finish in his first season coaching in the top flight.

However, Genoa struggled at the beginning of this season following the departures of star forwards Mateo Retegui and Albert Guðmundsson and the injuries started mounting up.

That led Genoa to sign Balotelli and it will have to be seen what impact Vieira coming in will have on the former Italy forward.

Vieira and Balotelli were teammates at Inter Milan and Manchester City but fell out when Vieira was the Nice coach, eventually leading to Balotelli moving to Marseille.

Vieira’s first match in charge will be at home against Cagliari. The teams are level on points in the table.

The 48-year-old Vieira previously coached New York City FC in Major League Soccer and went on to manage Crystal Palace and then Strasbourg after leaving Nice.

During a stellar playing career, Vieira won three Premier League titles with Arsenal and four in Serie A with Inter Milan, as well as the World Cup and European Championship with France.