Earlier today, Sky Sports and BBC Sport both reported that Liverpool FC were signing Mario Balotelli for £ 16million. Checking that there was some substance to this story, revealed the surprise that it does indeed appear to be true.
Having recently sold one rather controversial striker albeit for £75 million the last thing I expected was for them to go out and sign another. In the current football world, £16 million for an International striker who is currently playing in Milan is a good price, but Mario Balotelli may just be the one football player who can cause as much controversy as Luis Suarez.
After the racist incident with then Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, and the subsequent biting incident with Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, forcing both Liverpool manager Brendon Rogers and the club’s American owners into a debate that shouldn’t have to exist within Football, the signing of Balotelli could well see the controversy continue.
There was no doubt that with £75 million sitting in their Bank Account, and the fact that they would be playing Champions League football this year, Liverpool would be looking to invest in the playing staff, and yes that was always likely to include a striker. However, Daniel Sturridge would be forgiven today for feeling a little bit frustrated by this news, trying to establish himself as a genuine World Class centre forward, he was already the leading English goal scorer in last season’s Premier League, and that was in a team mainly built about Suarez. Sturridge would I feel quite rightly have expected to be considered the main forward this time around, but that looks less likely now.
His own past shows us that Balotelli is not going to be happy in a bit part or substitute role, so he will arrive expecting to play, and this probably means Sturridge will continue to move around the front line and wider positions to allow Balotelli to roam the central areas. This may well be something that Sturridge, is very capable of but it won’t help the England team in any way, the recent World Cup showed that the England team are crying out for a goal scoring Centre Forward, and of all the candidates Sturridge looked the most likely; but this is a role that he will not be playing on a regular basis at his club side.
So what will Balotelli need to do in this spell in England, to win the fans over, after the earlier Manchester City years? Well, first of all I admit that Mario Balotelli the football player is a huge talent, and Liverpool will want to see a goals return for their investment. Suarez scored 30 goals last year despite missing games through suspension, so if 30 goals is worth £75 million, on paper £16 million Balotelli should be good for 6 goals, I somehow feel that Liverpool will be looking for at least treble that and more time available on the pitch.
The headlines generated by Balotelli where possible need to be confined to Back Page headlines which are there for the right reasons, rather than what Suarez produced in recent times, or the firework incident from Balotelli’s stay in Manchester. Now around his mid 20’s, and an established international Balotelli may well be a little more mature than before, but he does seem to love an interview and a sound bite.
I feel the Liverpool fanbase in the Kop are smart enough to know that to a certain extent, the signing of Mario Balotelli does come with a sense of buyer beware. The worst case is that he sulks and gets petulant and there is little from him, the high end is that Anfield is about to be home for a true World Class talent capable of winning games himself with a moment of genius. I hope it is this we are commenting on in the future rather than the equally famous moments of madness.
After scoring for City, Balotelli famously once revealed a T-Shirt bearing the slogan Why Always Me?, I hope for Liverpool that it is now a case of them being assured that they can always rely on Balotelli to deliver for them, and Balotelli may well ask himself at that point, Why Not Always Me?
So Mario Balotelli, as the sign at the ground says, Welcome to Anfield, you may well have unfinished business with the Premier League after your last stay in England, I trust that you are ready to replace Luis Surarez, (I am sure a goal or two against the Manchester clubs will go down very nicely) both on the pitch and in the hearts of the Anfield faithful. If you can achieve that, I think you would be well on the way to genuine World Star status, so before too many puns about Super Mario start appearing! I wish you the best of luck and say Why Not Mario Balotelli?
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