Mario Balotelli has jokingly offered his services to AC Milan once again, but did stress concern about the team’s dependance on Rafael Leao.
Balotelli is now 33 and is heading towards the tail end of his career, but there are few who have had the experiences that he has had. He won the treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League) in 2010 with Inter, then played at Manchester City where he won a Premier League title and FA Cup.
He moved back to Italy in January 2013, signing for Milan, before returning to the Premier League with Liverpool 18 months later. He came back to the Rossoneri on loan, then ended up at Brescia in summer 2019, and Serie B club Monza in late 2020.
Balotelli now plays at Adana Demispor and he spoke live on TvPlay to talk about his future and half-jokingly offered himself to Milan again, while speaking about Leao setting the team’s rhythm.
“Did Milan need a younger player? Here I am. Milan’s problem is that the young players you sign then have to deal with San Siro which is not a stadium like the others, you need players with personality,” he said (via Calciomercato.com).
“I like Pioli, but if Leao isn’t well Milan will do very little. If Leao has a bad day, it’s difficult for Milan to win.”
When he rescinded his contract I thought we should have brought him back on a contract for the rest of the season plus an option for a 1 year extension. His is an absolute joker, but on his day is as good as anyone. Could have been enough to see us through to the end of the season before making a big investment at striker next summer.
Why not lol if he’s wagen arent crazy he loves the club the club loves him
Sorry but Balotelli has never been known for working hard on the pitch. He’s talented no doubt but his professionalism and attitude is not what Milan need.
Lazy player who doesn’t run, doesn’t press and doesn’t track back. He only wants to take penalties and free kicks and just stand in the penalty box and wait for the ball.
A big no to Balotelli. I would have taken Icardi, Bacca or Diego Costa over him. Balotelli is a waste of talent. Smh
Sure man, that is why they signed Jovic. The model of professionalism…
I wonder to what extent he’s right. Ancelotti had mostly veterans and players that knew Serie A. Inter is doing the same. The previous management brought veterans like Kjaer, Florenzi, Zlatan, Giroud in addition to the young core and the team spirit changed instantly.
Personally i wouldnt even want balotelli returning for free and being unpaid.
Yes, But Balotelli was a one man show for milan back in 2013
I think the scoring is 4 Giroud, 3 Leao, 2 Pulisic, 1 Hernandez. That’s a fairly even distribution for just a few games, so over-the-hill Balotelli needs to try to stay in the limelight by doing something on the field rather than pontificating about Milan…..
Leao certainly has the work ethic of Balotelli, unfortunately.
Balotelli is right about the need for players with personality. San Siro is a special place. Remembers those crappy years, who was their big personality? Suso? Silva? It wasn’t until Ibra came and Covid hit that Milan elevated. No fans in the San Siro and Ibra to teach them how to swagger. Giroud, Florenzi and Kjear have good leadership, but I think the San Siro needs strong personalities … not necessarily Balotelli. This is where you miss Maldini. He understood that and knew how to find those right pieces.
Do ppl read? He said it in joke lol wtf 🤣🤦♂️🤷♂️
Anyways I think Balo is probably saying this along the lines/perspective that he at one point in time was the focal point in attack and that carries expectations, can be rewarding but can also have a detrimental effect on the person and on the team. That was my guess
of course it was a joke but even then people can still express their unwillingness to never want him back at the club.
From interviews he seems like a nice person but he is propably also the player with the worst work etthics and one of the most high profiled players who has squandered up his talent the most considering what he actually could have achieved with his huge talent.
Lol, to me it was such a blatant joke I couldn’t comprehend why we would or could ever want him back. I saw it as self deprecating tbh
Also agree on the talent part,was forevera talent nothing more. Could have been great
Im sure if he got the xhance then he wouldn’t blink twice but god forbid that he would ever get such an offer.
He could propably have won several ballon dor’s,, huge talent, super athletic and dangerous in front of the goal but horribly lazy and propably also too fragile minded for his own good.
If he was 20 years old though then i would gladly sign him and try to mould him differently but yeah its a damn shame how his career has gone down the drain.
Pretty much all of the media reporting about Balotelli was the reverse of what really happened.
When he was clearly angry at HIMSELF for making a mistake the media would say he was angry at teammates.
At Milan I never saw His much maligned lack of work ethic and actually if you look at the number of bookings he got his biggest issue was he was bad a tackling.
He was absolutely crucial to our turnaround in 13/14 where he scored 12/13 and we qualified for the Champions League.
His career, like most players, was ruined by his agent and the constant moving from club to club. Had he stayed at Milan for an extended period his career could’ve been different.
His work effort was fine when he played for Milan, and his biggest problem was he took himself too seriously.
He would get annoyed at HIMSELF when
i agree he was good in one and a half season but otherwisei i found him pretty much detrimental to the team as he often just wandered around without showing the right purpose and work etthics. I nevertheless agree that his career was partially ruined by raiola but he also has himself to thank for that but it deffently could have beeen a lot different as im not questioning his talent and its actually rather sad it whent that way but even monza who was playing in serie a b didnt find much use in him because why wouldnt they have signed him when they got promoted to serie a.
since he has played in france, switzerland and turkey when he basically should have played in top 5 clubs in europe at that point of his career,
since he has played for us he played …….
freaking hell
since he has played for us he should have played …….
damn ill shut up now haha completely f’ing it up haha but was referring to the time after he left us butthird last was my point 😀 a tad drunk
Never forget the 13/14 season, he was incredible, 30gp 14g 7a in Serie A, he was the focal point of our attack. Should’ve never left for Liverpool.
It would make sense to bring him and try when Ibra was on board. Zlatan had a good effect on bad boys. Even Cassano was working hard under Ibra’s leadership. When you don’t have a leader who speaks the same language to them, they’d ruin everything.