Manchester City: Will Mario Balotelli Ever Be Great?

Today Manchester City continued their preseason tour of the US in a friendly against David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy. The game was dominated by City for the most part, and an injury to Landon Donovan gave the Galaxy little attacking threat.

In the 18th minute, Galaxy defender Bryan Jordan fouled City defender Micah Richards in the box for a penalty shot. Mario Balotelli stepped up to take the chance and scored on a run up where he hesitated and perhaps should have had it disallowed. He did not celebrate, and waited for teammates to come over to congratulate him.

Less than 10 minutes later David Silva would send Balotelli in on goal all alone. The Italian could have easily slid the ball past the goalie, chipped the goalie, powered the ball into the net, or laid it off to his teammate Edin Dzeko for an easy tap in.

Instead Balotelli collected the ball, spun in placed, stepped over the ball, and then hit it with his heel, back to goal and wide of the net.

City boss Roberto Macini shot off the bench and immediately told James Milner to warm up. In the 32nd minute Balotelli was subbed off. The striker walked over to the bench to boos and jeers from the entire stadium and met an irate Macini on the sideline. He turned his back to his boss and walked to the end of the bench. An assistant coach attempted to talk to him, but he would have none of it.

Balotelli drank some water from a water bottle, and threw it to the ground in a fit of rage.

In a game that had Galaxy midfielder Mike Magee scoring a spectacular goal and eventually went into penalties, requiring City keeper Joe Hart to score the winning shot, this was the major story to come out of the friendly.

In about 35 minutes, Mario Balotelli summed up the type of player and personality that he is.

At only 20, the Italian striker has become one of the most volatile athletes in all of sports. Over his short career at two of the biggest clubs in the world, he has managed to alienate himself from his teammates and shake the control of every manager. His attitude is what defines him, and has been ever since he became an everyday player at Inter.

So why would Manchester City make him one their first signings after he was essentially driven out of Milan by fans, teammates, and the club? Because Balotelli may just be one of the greatest goalscorers of his generation.

He has scored 38 goals in 114 games. These numbers wouldn't generally call much attention to a striker, but you have to realize that he did this with little effort. When he does work hard and plays his all, he can be one of the most intimidating forces in the game.

Balotelli started well at Inter, scoring 10 goals in his first full season with the club. In his second season, he would surrender his starting spot to newly arrived Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o. His relationship  with his boss Jose Mourinho would deteriorate from there.

Balotelli showed less and less effort or commitment to the team, leading Mourinho to state, "as far as I'm concerned, a young boy like him cannot allow himself to train less than people like Figo, Córdoba, and Zanetti."

In the summer of 2010 Inter had had enough and sold him to Manchester City. The move was expected to give the Italian some room to reform himself in style of play more suited to his physical nature. He also could now escape the disgusting and hateful racism that seemed to follow him throughout his time in Serie A.

After an injury early in the season, Balotelli would return in October and play well enough through to December to earn the Golden Boy Award, an honor given to the best U-21 player in Europe. He joined a list which included Wayne Rooney, Alexendre Pato, and Lionel Messi. But as quickly as he seemed to show who he was as a player, he was even quicker to bring recognition back to his attitude.

After winning the award he was asked to comment on the player who he narrowly beat out, Arsenal's Jack Wilshire:

"What's his name? Wil ... ? No, I don't know him, but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him," Balotelli said. "Perhaps I can show him the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I won it."

He also went on to insult past winners as well:

"There's only one that is a little stronger than me: Messi. All the others are behind me. I am delighted to receive the award, but who should have won it but me? Two years ago I finished sixth and then fourth in 2009. It was finally my turn. My aim is that this prize will transform itself into the Ballon d'Or. To have won this award is a good omen to achieve that."

Many would gawk at the idea that he could ever win the Ballon d'Or. However, out of all the outrageous things Balotelli has said and done throughout his career, this is perhaps the most sensible of them all.

The reason why Manchester City paid €23 million for the Italian is that a player of his caliber, with his quality of skill and immense physical attributes, comes along only once a generation. Carlos Tevez, Linoel Messi, and Wayne Rooney are three of the best players on the planet and ever to play the game, but they have worked very hard their entire lives for this honor. Balotelli has done little to improve himself, but still remains one of the most feared strikers out there.

When City bought Balotelli, it was like buying a jigsaw puzzle. They bought it looking at the picture on the box, but before it can look that way there's a lot of hard work involved. Mancini knew that if he took this on and could solve it, then he would have a product that no other team would. Mancini's biggest problem is that so far, it doesn't seem like he's even found the corner pieces.

The most puzzling thing about Balotelli is he seems to defy the very nature of a professional athlete. Christiano Ronaldo has an attitude. Didier Drogba has an attitude. Zlatan Ibrahimović has an attitude. But for these players and every other 'prima donna', the attitude is outweighed by what got them to the top: their inherent nature to compete.

This seems to be absent in Balotelli's mind. Off-the-field issues seem to translate into on-field misbehavior, and vice-versa. He does not seem to care about the game, his teammates or the fans. He seems to only be concerned with what he wants, and almost no one knows what that is.

It's no secret that the Italian national team is in need of a good striker. Balotelli has been the best Italian forward since he became eligible for the team in 2008, yet he has only been called up for two games. Often racially abused by his own fans, it is a wonder why he even would want to represent the Azzurri. Whether he wants to play or not, the Italian national side has made it clear that his current demeanor is not worth the value he would bring to the team.

Mario Balotelli is a phenomenon of sports. We are not talking about at player in the prime of his career, who once reaching his peak is taking on an air of elitism. We are talking about a 20 year old who is six or seven years away from his best, but has already showed that he can be one of the best strikers in the world.

If he can figure a way to change the stigma he has received over his years of off field attitude and nihilistic play, there is no reason to wonder why he cannot evolve into the Ballon d'Or contender he hopes to become and bring his national side back to the prominence they used to enjoy.

But as I said, only he can find the way.