Arsenal’s need for a top quality striker is well documented, and the latest striker to be linked with a move to the Emirates is AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli. But, after ending their 9-year trophy drought this summer with the FA Cup win, do Arsenal really need the distraction, that is Balotelli?
It was six years ago when agent Mino Raiola received a phone call from his most high-profile client, none other than the former Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And mind you, Zlatan wasn’t calling him to negotiate a new deal or because he wanted out. Instead, the Swede spoke in glowing terms of a certain 17-year old prodigy who had impressed him in training, and the fact that a player of Ibrahimovic’s talent and inflated ego was blown away by the genius of Balotelli tells you how prodigiously gifted the Palermo native really was. “There is a phenomenon here at Inter,” Zlatan seemed excited. “He’s a black guy who does what he wants with the ball at his feet. You have to come to see him.”
But then again, Balotelli’s ability has never really been in doubt. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his temperament and commitment. The Italian has found the net on 30 occasions in 54 appearances for AC Milan. His raw skill and technique is hailed by one and all. It is the Balotelli off the pitch, in the dressing room and on the subs bench that continues to make any potential suitors feel squeamish about the prospect of acquiring his services. As much as a character, Jose Mourinho is, he himself termed Balo as ‘unmanageable’.
When AC Milan were linked with Balotelli in January last year, club owner Silvio Berlusconi had berated Balotelli for being the centre of friction at every club he’s been at. “The name of Balotelli never came into my thoughts,” the Italian media tycoon declared. “He is a rotten apple and could infect every group where he goes, even Milan.” Unsurprisingly, the Rossoneri signed the player, and Berlusconi tried to ease himself out of his vehement admonition. He claimed that it was all part of a master stroke by CEO Adriano Galliani to drive down City’s asking price for the forward.
18 months later, and Berlusconi must feel vindicated – he was right all along, and the troubled genius has shown no signs of maturity. Balotelli’s narcissism and uncooperative nature and his belief that he is above the rules that apply to his teammates can affect the morale of the group. Anyone with a waterfall in front of his mansion displaying his token “MP45″ tag, apart from having commissioned a life-size 16 foot statue of himself to stand in his Brescia home, is more than a little full of himself. Arsene Wenger has built his team at Arsenal upon the principles of camaraderie and teamwork, and it is a far cry from the treatment Balotelli expects at a club.
And don’t judge Balotelli based on pure mathematics. Although the former Manchester City striker netted 14 times in the Serie A, and was Milan’s top scorer last season, there is more to it than meets the eye. As they say, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Balotelli tends to blow hot and cold – he can be the best player on the pitch one day, and yet a subject of great annoyment for his teammates on another day.
And after receiving scathing criticism from Sky Sport Italia analyst Giancarlo Marocchi and former Italian football pundits Christian Panucci and Zvonimir Boban after his woeful and disinterested showing against Roma back in April, Mario didn’t take the criticism too kindly and instead chose to lash out at his critics. The pervading feeling at the Italian capital that Milan are probably better off without the disrupting influence of Balotelli – that he is now more of a nuisance than he’s worth on the pitch. And if his former manager and mentor Roberto Mancini couldn’t get him to mend his ways, the odds are, nobody really can.
There’s little doubt that Balotelli is one of the top strikers in the world. He is only 23, and if he can sort his head out, and work on his game, the sky is the limit. Arsene Wenger is known to be a hard taskmaster, but making a team player out of a disruptive soul would take some doing as he previously found it through William Gallas and Adebeyor. It is an incredibly high risk transfer, and given the fact that Arsenal can offer Champions League football, there is no doubt that top players would want to join the likes of Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey in Arsene Wenger’s dream project. No point taking a risk with Balotelli. Super Mario he may be, one rotten apple is often capable of spoiling the entire barrel.