Poised to make an extraordinary return to English soil, the Premiership resurrection of Mario Balotelli is almost complete. In talks with Liverpool, if all goes nicely and the ‘introverted, softly spoken’ striker signs a contract involving rigorous clauses of conduct, Super Mario could make his Anfield debut before the end of August.
Categorically ruling out a move for the striker at the start of the month, Brendan Rodgers performed an epic reversal after deciding that the asking price of £16m for Milan’s controversial figure was too tempting to reject. Thursday saw Mina Raiola, Balotelli’s agent, touch down on Merseyside and meet with Ian Ayre, the Liverpool chief executive.
After vice-president Adriano Galliani stated with staunch confidence that the 24 year old would remain at AC Milan, it looks as if he too was talking absolute rubbish, especially after Balotelli told Sky Italia that Thursday was indeed his final day training with the Rossoneri.
Honestly, we should not be too surprised by the Galliani facade. Days before selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva in 2012 to PSG, Galliani famously said that both men were going nowhere, while roughly six months later, he apologized to fans because there was a “99.5% chance” that Milan would fail in their attempts to sign Mario Balotelli from Manchester City.
Like Stephen Baldwin’s acting career, Super Mario has never truly fulfilled his potential, and the list of prospective suitors for the striker reflects this very fact. Rather comically, Mino Raiola told reporters that only eight to ten clubs in the world could actually afford his Italian client, perhaps the word afford should have been replaced with the word tolerate. Raiola did single out an EPL side as one of the ‘lucky’ ones, although it happened to be Arsenal, a club that saw Alexis Sánchez as a safer, far superior bet. While Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid all bolstered their attacking options without signing Balotelli, Liverpool do have the finances and a striking vacancy after selling the scintillating Suárez, but will Mario, a litigious front man, disturb the harmony at Anfield?
When you consider the fact that Milan has set an asking price of just £16m, £4m more than Southampton paid for Shane Long and £5more than Fulham paid for Ross McCormack, it certainly is a tempting offer. Also, it is vital to remember that Balotelli has 33 Italy caps and over 30 Champions League appearances under his extremely stylish, designer belt.
When Milan signed the striker back in 2013 for a similar fee, many fans believed that this was one of the club’s best acquisitions in years, and for the first four months Balotelli looked absolutely inspirational. Netting twice on his debut, Mario went on to score ten goals in the following twelve games, pulling Milan back into the Champions League fray.
Now, only 19 months after joining the club he supported as a child, Milan look desperate to sell the Italian before the transfer window shuts on September 1st.
Personal terms look to be a major issue, with the striker initially seeking £160,000-a-week with Liverpool offering to pay considerably less, roughly £70,000 less. But a more serious concern for Rodgers should involve any delinquent behaviour on Mario’s part and protecting Liverpool from a Balotelli-Backlash.
Four years ago, just days after signing for Manchester City, the never boring Balotelli hit the headlines after crashing his Audi R8 on his way to training. Reportedly, when asked by police why he was carrying close to £5,000 in cash at the time of the motoring mishap, Balotelli responded: “because I am rich.”
Still so young, the divisive figure has had numerous problems with every manager and club he has represented during his ephemeral but highly exciting career. At Internazionale, famously, José Mourinho described Balotelli as uncontrollable, while Roberto Mancini had his hands full with the striker at Manchester City. Remember Balotelli’s first red card in the EPL? Arriving in November of 2010 against West Brom, this was also the game that saw Mario score his first Premier League goals in a 2-0 win. This achievement was quickly spoiled when he received a red card following a collision with Youssouf Mulumbu.
More red cards followed, most notably against Arsenal and Liverpool, the club he could very well join in the next few hours. Undoubtedly, if you are prepared to sign this striker, then you must prepare yourself for a mix of the bizarre and brilliant. If Rodgers does indeed sign him, something tells me that we will see far more of the former than the latter.
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