Premier League Divas: Predicting an EPL Prima Donna

For as many world-class talents that the English Premier League has, there are almost as many world-class divas.

Playing in arguably the most competitive league in the world certainly raises the stakes for managers and players alike in the EPL. Stress levels are always high for each team in the English league, which can lead to outbursts from prima donna types.

Here are the Top 5 traits that are the telltale signs of a prima donna in the EPL.

Constant Outbursts Involving a Bottle

The world of sports can lead to some unique pop culture phenomena. Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow gave us "Tebowing," while Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger is trying to get abusing water bottles to catch on.

Wenger attempts to control his fiery temper whenever his team fails to meet his expectations, but every so often you'll see him throw that water bottle around from the sideline.

If you're a team owner, you want your manager to be passionate. But if he's anything like Wenger, just realize you're getting a little more than that if you sign him.

Bragging About Themselves After Winning an Award

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has always been a bit of an enigmatic player during his professional career, displaying more than a few ingredients needed to qualify for this list.

One of the more recent headline-grabbers by Balotelli was last year, when he won the Golden Boy Award given to the top under-21 player in Europe.

Upon receiving the award, the Italian footballer told the The Guardian, "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."

Balotelli barely nudged out Arsenal's Jack Wilshere for the award, of whom the brash award recipient claimed he had never heard during the same interview.

It's alright to be confident in your abilities as a footballer—maybe even a little cocky—but to act like you don't know the runner-up—who you play in the same league as—is well past the line of what's acceptable.

Consistently Showing Immaturity

Tell me that picture doesn't look all too familiar, EPL fans.

Liverpool's sensationally talented Luis Suarez is one of the faces of the club, however that's not always a good thing for the Reds.

Suarez is almost as well known for his complaining and diving on the pitch as he is for his goal-scoring abilities. While that's one of the huge flags of a prima donna, his most recent actions take him to a whole new level.

The Uruguayan was recently suspended for eight EPL games due to his racial slurs toward Manchester United's Patrice Evra during a recent match.

Even after continuously abusing Evra with racial slurs during the match, Suarez refuses to apologize to the man.

These acts go beyond simply acting like you're better than everyone else or making outbursts on the sideline, and fans should be ashamed if any of their favorite players ever act similarly to the way Suarez did to Evra.

Boycotting the BBC

Sir Alex Ferguson is the manager of the most famous team in all the EPL in Manchester United, but that doesn't stop him from stirring up controversy.

There is plenty to choose from that show off the traits of a typical prima donna, but none better than Ferguson's personal ban of the BBC from 2004-2011.

The Man U manager refused to give interviews to the largest media outlet in Great Britain after the company showed a documentary detailing his son as an agent, essentially thriving off of his father's name and influence.

After an EPL rule change in 2010 and meetings with the higher-ups of the BBC, Ferguson ended his seven-year boycott of the company.

Unless you're the manager of a team like Manchester United, it might not be the smartest move to boycott a media outlet as important to your country as is the BBC.

Frequent Transfer Requests

Usually when the word "journeyman" is used in sports, the player in question isn't one of the top at his position, but that's not true of Manchester City's Carlos Tevez.

After manager Roberto Mancini named the Argentine as team captain in August of 2010, it took just four months for Tevez to start getting cold feet on Man City.

Shortly after his agent asked the higher-ups of the club to renegotiate and improve his contract with City, Tevez handed them a written transfer request.

Tevez is still looking for ways out of the Manchester area. After all, it has been almost three seasons. The talented attacker has never played for a club longer than three seasons his entire career.

For as talented as a player can be, if he has a history of bad breakups with his former clubs and gets the urge to leave after three seasons wherever he goes, I think it's safe to say there is other talent out there worth looking at first.