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AC Milan and the Balotelli Effect

  By O-Posts Team | March 20, 2013 - 17:05 | , ,
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Just 46 days into his career with the Rossoneri and the effect that Mario Balotelli has had on the club is clear.

Following his arrival in Italy, AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said that the move for Balotelli was “a dream that has been realized [and] a transfer that everyone wanted; the club, the president and the fans.”

That dream got off to a fairytale start with Balotelli producing a match winning brace against Udinese, a win which lifted Milan above rivals Inter in the table at the time.

Balotelli scored in the next two games for AC Milan, including a stunning 30-yard free kick against Parma to maintain the Rossoneri’s resurgent push up the league. That strike at the San Siro proved enough to match Oliver Bierhoff’s record of four goals in three matches, but the Italy international has since kicked on.

Balotelli came off the bench to add to his tally with another goal against Genoa in only his fifth appearance for the club, whilst last weekend’s brace against Palermo took the controversial striker’s tally to seven goals in six games in Serie A.

Balotelli’s arrival has coincided with AC Milan’s unbeaten run in the league, which has seen five wins in just seven games, but the effect of ‘Super Mario’ has not been universally positive.

After hitting 15 goals prior to Balotelli’s arrival in January, Italian striker Stephan El Shaarawy has managed just one goal in the league since the controversial striker’s move from Manchester City.

Balotelli and El Shaarawy.... contrasting fortunes since the widely publicized move.

Balotelli and El Shaarawy…. contrasting fortunes since the widely publicized move.

The ‘Pharaoh’ has lost his place at the pinnacle of the Rossoneri attack, with both Balotelli and Gianpaolo Pazzini now favoured ahead of El Shaarawy in the centre of the AC Milan attack.

The competition for places up front is something which Massimiliano Allegri will have to manage carefully, but Il Faraone will likely find himself more frequently positioned either side of a central striker, with the striker’s work rate and energy considerably higher than that of the enigmatic Balotelli.

With Mario Balotelli in the side, the Rossoneri have yet to look back and AC Milan’s hopes of a second place finish seem possible based on their form in 2013. Fixtures against Fiorentina, Napoli and Juventus next month make April a huge time of the year for the Rossoneri.

How Milan manage Balotelli over the next four years could prove crucial, especially given the striker’s unmanageability in the past, but should Balotelli mature in his ways and add a higher level of work rate and determination to his game, then the effect of Mario may be long felt at the San Siro.

 

Jonathan Day is a leading football analyst who specialises in European and Premier League football. Jonathan currently writes for Sportingly Better, a football betting blog that offers free football tips and betting predictions. Follow Sportingly Better on Twitter or add them on Facebook for all the latest betting tips.

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Mario Balotelli: The Marmite of Football

  By O-Posts Team | February 3, 2013 - 16:10 | , , , , , , ,
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Mario Balotelli can be described as the ‘Marmite’ of football. You either love him or you hate him. It’s incredible to think that he is still only 22 years old. In a short period of time he has won the Premier league title with Manchester City and was part of Jose Mourinho’s treble winning Inter Milan side.

After a turbulent two years at Manchester City which saw him have countless falling-outs with manager Roberto Mancini and problems off the pitch such as allegedly throwing darts at the Manchester City youth team because ‘he was bored’ and being allergic to grass. Mancini always seemed to have faith in him and was described as being ‘sad’ when this transfer was set in motion.

At the end of the day you have to admire the efforts of Mancini to get Balotelli concentrating on his football. Even the great Jose Mourinho has described Mario as, ‘unmanageable’ during his two years at Inter.

This could be the fresh start Mario Balotelli needs, his transfer from Manchester City to AC Milan could be his last chance to make himself a footballing legend for the right reasons. There is no doubt that AC Milan is one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. They used to produce the best teams in European football which were made up of the icons of attacking football such as; Marco Van Basten, Andriy Shevchenko and Filippo Inzaghi to name a few.

However, this current Milan squad is a long way off the great teams of the past. This season has been particularly bad for the Rosseneri; they were hovering around the relegation area for the first few weeks.

This could be put down to the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the summer. That hole in attack would be difficult for any team to fill. The emergence of Stephan El Shaarawy has made the departure seem less apparent but in the end a team the size of Milan must be challenging for the title with a Champions League spot the bare minimum.

Milan has confirmed the signing of Mario Balotelli for £19.5m on a four year deal. The potential for this attack for both Milan and the Italian national team is exciting, especially with Mario’s performance at the recent European Championships.

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri now has the task of choosing between five strikers; Stephan El Shaarawy, Bojan, Giampaolo Pazzini, Robinho and now Balotelli. One formation that has been spoken about is a 4-3-3 which is unusual for Milan of late with the three pronged attack of El Shaarawy/Balotelli/Robinho. This obviously has the potential to be the best in Italy.

With Nigel De Jong out for the season and Urby Emanuelson surprisingly sent on loan to Fulham for the rest of the season, Milan, on paper, still have enough fire power to push on this season, with Kevin-Prince Boateng, Ricardo Montolivo and the emergence of M’Baye Niang more than capable of controlling a midfield of three. Milan could even try the ever growing 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 formations that many teams in Italy are incorporating now.

Massimiliano Allegri has had problems in the past with the man management of his players with reported bust ups with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Pippo Inzaghi. If Mario Balotelli doesn’t concentrate on his football and causes problems like he has in the past, the already under fire boss could have his work cut out for him as he has probably never had to manage a player like Balotelli.

I personally hope that Mario Balotelli does make it at Milan. Their team is rebuilding and are definitely boasting the best young talent in Italy at the moment. He has already scored for Milan during their 10-0 mauling of Darfo Boario who sit in the 4th division in Italy.

His return sparked a riot within the Milan Ultra’s so it’s safe to say the Mario Balotelli era at AC Milan has begun.

 

Written by Tom French

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Mario Balotelli: Good deal for the Rossoneri?

  By O-Posts Team | January 31, 2013 - 16:29 | , , , , ,
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AC Milan and Premier League champions Manchester City have agreed a deal for striker Mario Balotelli. A fee of £19 million plus add-ons (possibly including a bet on March madness or two) will see the 22 year old return to the San Siro, but representing the red and black of Milan.

Life long fan Balotelli had previously expressed desire to one day join the Rossoneri and is scheduled to undergo a medical tomorrow morning and sign a four and a half year contract. Milan Sporting Director Umberto Gandini conformed on twitter:

“Transfer agreement for Balotelli signed with Manchester City. Medical is tomorrow [Wednesday] in Milan, then personal terms until 2017 will be signed.”

Earlier in the season, owner Silvio Berlusconi labelled the former Inter Star as “rotten apple”, but has since apologized and funded for the move for Balotelli.

Balotelli signed for City in the summer of 2010 in a deal that cost City £24 Million. He began his City career well and had his most prolific season in the 2011-2012 season, scoring 17 goals.

However due to disciplinary issues, background bust ups and a dip in form which has seen the Italian net only three times this season, he found himself fourth choice behind Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko and Boss Roberto Mancini had decided to cut his loses and £175,000 off the City wage bill.

Although enduring many problems during his spell at the Etihad, Balotelli captivated the football world through his spectacular goals, cheeky gestures, suspensions and also his talent. While it is clear Balotelli has a knack of disregarding the rules, his talent and ability must not be underestimated.

There is a reason he was bought for £24 million, four league titles, the Champions League, three domestic cups and won Golden Boy of the Year 2010. The move will come as a success for all parties involved.

Balotelli gets his dream move, whilst AC Milan have a signed player of his quality for a reasonable price. Manchester City have received extra funds for the club and can continue running the club without the disruption of Mario and his antics.

 

Written by Farhan Daw

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Super Mario to AC Milan: Wishing all the best to the Balotelli circus

  By O-Posts Team | January 29, 2013 - 22:37 | , , , , , , ,
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So he’s gone then. Mario Balotelli has called time on his two and a half years at Manchester City that have been marred by petulance and stories of lunacy that have split opinion.

Roberto Mancini thought he could see through the simmering idiocy long enough to get the best out of his striker, but a training ground bust-up at the start of December proved to be the crescendo of his ill-fated time in England as the manager finally admits defeat in his quest to discover the Italian’s best which he has frustratingly shown mere glimpses of.

Balotelli has played just 25 minutes of football since tempers over-spilled on that day in Carrington as Mancini has condemned him to the bench, but AC Milan have come to the striker’s rescue with a four and a half year deal and a £17 million fee.

Balotelli has reportedly taken a pay-cut to escape his troubles at City and to join the club he has apparently supported since he was a boy, it is a deal that has taken a lot of compromise but it’s the best solution to the working relationship between manager and player at Eastlands that had appears to have reached impasse.

Balotelli’s nature for rebellion that can be a threat to any manager’s attempt to create a harmonious side now becomes the problem of Massimo Allegri who is no stranger to working on rocky ground, having steered Milan through the loss of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva last summer to leave them sitting six points off third midway through a season of transition.

Balotelli becomes the latest addition to the Rosseneri revolution and will link up with Alexander Pato and another precocious talent in Stephen El-Shaarawry, a combination that has the potential to be a very dangerous partnership indeed.

As Italy manager Cesare Prandelli will testify, Balotelli has the raw talent in abundance after witnessing his dismissal of Germany in Euro 2012. Mancini knows of his quality too, but drove himself crazy trying to persuade the striker to produce it on a consistent basis.

Underneath all the stories of madness that followed him off the field that had caricatured him as something of a cult figure for the neutral in search of light-hearted entertainment lay the most frustrating element of all, that he could betray such gifted talent to exist to be this aggravated, isolated soul who asked “why always me?”.

Perhaps he will find a happier environment in Milan and become, under the guise of Allegri, become the player Mancini had always billed him to be. His last spell in Serie A was as turbulent as his one in England as the relationship between him the huge ego of Jose Mourinho was doomed to failure.

Perhaps he will find a more settled ground from which to show his ability and produce more of the performances that saw him score twice at Old Trafford, or become the man of the match in the FA Cup final of 2011 that have been, infuriatingly for his former boss, a rarity.

He has been delightful for the neutral with his adventures off the field but now, at the age of 22, many would hope the process of maturity follows him to the San Siro so he can blossom into a favourite for the neutral on the field too.

In the parting words of Mancini, “he can become one of the best players in Europe”, let’s hope, for the sake of misguided talent, that isn’t just a prophecy tarred with blind faith.

 

Written by Adam Gray

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Mario Balotelli: Could Roberto Mancini get one more chance to prove he was right all along?

  By O-Posts Team | January 23, 2013 - 19:24 | , , , , ,
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Speculation of Mario Balotelli’s possible move from Manchester City to AC Milan this month has been illuminated by stories of the striker mysteriously giving up his highly expensive rented property in Cheshire and inspiring an Italian hip-hop artist to write a song about the pitfalls of native citizenship.

There have been no stories of mass-philanthropy at petrol stations or schools, but indication all the same of the slapstick nature that has followed the character during his time in Manchester that maybe coming to an end.

For somebody who tested Jose Mourinho’s patience to the extreme upon his emergence with Inter Milan and possessed enough lack of wit to appear on national television wearing the shirt of their bitter city rivals, the £24 million move to Manchester City in the August of 2010 as Inter finally gave up on the attacker’s eccentricities and passed him on to his first Internazionale coach and mentor Roberto Mancini, was never going to be the smoothest of rides.

Two years and six months later, Balotelli is rumoured to be on his way back to Milan with his reputation for the petulant, unreliable and utmost frustrating well and truly installed. 27 yellow cards have been picked up at Manchester City and four reds, the most costly one being the scissor tackle that threatened to derail his side’s title chase with defeat at Arsenal last April.

Despite the wretched indiscipline that, just like Mourinho, has driven Roberto Mancini to the edges of his faith in his apparent talent that looked to have finally broken during a training ground fight in December, the manager still appears to hold support for his prodigy whose agent has claimed that any January move is unlikely.

“I’m not interested in negotiating with anyone” says Mino Raiola, “Mario stays at City,” which may go someway to delighting Mancini who, as some are quick to point out, has never voiced a desire to sell the player and is said to be the only member of the City hierarchy to still hold patience in the 22 year old despite ironically being the one who Balotelli has let down the most.

Too often there hasn’t been the ruthless efficiency in-front of goal that adorned Euro 2012 and neither has there been too many moments to replicate the “why always me?” motif of his two-goal inspiration in the 1-6 thrashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford. Instead the more everlasting images have been Mancini furiously reacting on the touchline to another misdemeanour, withdrawing him immediately after a needless back-heel in a pre-season friendly and from a woeful display in this season’s Manchester derby.

It was his inclusion in that game that indicated Mancini’s relentless mission to siphon the best out of Balotelli, which he has chosen to just restrict to mere glimpses, and what initially sparked Mancini to pay out the £24 million fee 2 years ago. City are seeking to recuperate £31 million for the striker, an extortionate ask when it is considered the frequency of which the Italian has proved an encumbrance to his employers.

Adriano Galliani, AC Milan’s vice-president, has said his side are eager to sign the troublesome player and expressed a willingness to negotiate, while Silvio Berlusconi has been entirely negative towards the projected move, conflicting reports that show in microcosm how much the enigmatic striker splits opinion.

Any opinion that is, apart from Roberto Mancini’s which remains completely unswayed on what his man can eventually offer to Manchester City once his shoddy attitude stops betraying the talent he possesses.

Aside from the misadventures and the comedy that has incurred his time with City, a return of 30 goals from 75 is a modest total from two years in east Manchester where he has played a significant role in a period of incredible success; he was man of the match in the FA Cup final win over Stoke in 2011 whilst as well as twenty goals last season, his measured pass to provide Sergio Aguero for his last gasp goal that sealed City’s first ever league title would have achieved him immortality in City’s history despite the infuriating underbelly of this chapter of his young career.

Balotelli has played just 31 minutes of football since that erroneous decision to field him in the derby at the start of December, but as City once again go in pursuit of their neighbours for a successive Premier League title, his services could well be needed again as he currently sits on the bench awaiting a possible shot at redemption.

If Milan’s interest passes in this window without action, as is looking increasingly likely, it will give Mancini another 5 months to launch one last desperate attempt to give the striker a chance to prove he was worth the trouble all along.

 

Written by Adam Gray

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