Mario Balotelli receives way more media coverage than a player with his CV deserves. It’s easy to understand why he’s so over-exposed however. Balotelli has such amazing natural talent, but he can’t figure out his to consistently maximize his gift. Thus we’re always intrigued by what he’s up to. Squandered talent stories are always compelling.
During the past couple years, he’s been a better citizen off the pitch, committing far fewer strange, silly and non-sensical acts. Of course he did do this in March of 2015.
Via Fox Soccer, Mario Balotelli launched a bizarre attack on his critics via Instagram. “Do you know me?” he said on the brief video. “Did you ever talk to me, personally? “Do you know what I’ve been through in my life?
“You just saw me play football on the pitch, sure. Man, shut up.”
Then there was this extremely ill-advised Instagram post (pictured below), which he quickly deleted. It’s hard to imagine anyone anywhere seeing any upside at all with either of these social media posts.
While Balotelli’s behavior off-the-pitch has, for a lack of a better word, improved, his on-the-pitch production has seen a horrible decline. He’s only scored one goal in league play in each of the past two seasons (2015-16 with AC Milan, 2014-15 with Liverpool). He scored at least 13 goals in the three seasons that spanned from 2011 to 2014.
Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp has made it quite clear that there is no place for him at Anfield, and LFC have struggled to find a buyer for him. His agent, Mino Raiola, may have found a destination for Balo in China, and this idea drew criticism from Italian legend Andrea Pirlo.
“He frustrates me, but I do have so much affection for Mario,” said the Milan and Juventus legend who played alongside Balotelli on the Italian National Team.
“He is infectious to be around. When I used to see him walk into training for Italy, he would have this big smile on his face – and I would just burst out laughing – and start wondering what is he thinking, what is he up to?”
“Mario should not just be a character the media write about for good stories. We shouldn’t forget what a special player he is.”
“I have played with some of the best strikers, and I can tell you Mario has all the attributes to be one of the best strikers in the world.
“By now I thought that is where he would be, that is where he should be. He has no more time to waste.”
Pirlo still believes in Balotelli, and thinks that potential to be great still resides in him somewhere. Pirlo thinks that Balo is wasting his talent by going to China, but it seems that opinion is in the minority. How many chances has Balotelli had in Europe already, to warrant being given another one?
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram