Should Chelsea Make a Move for AC Milan's Mario Balotelli?

Whenever Mario Balotelli is mentioned in football circles, we can expect some sort of controversy to soon follow.

The AC Milan and Italy striker hasn't been up to much away from the pitch this week—that we know of—although he has nonetheless made headlines with rumors linking him with a move to Chelsea.

Milan officials have "furiously hit back" at those suggestions, according The Express, although the player's agent Mino Raiola seems to think otherwise, telling the Daily Mail:

"Balotelli and [Jose] Mourinho could be reunited because they know each other and they didn’t leave each other with hate."

Raiola is of course referring to Balotelli's stint under Mourinho when the Portuguese was Inter Milan manager.

Sure, they may have gone their separate ways and ended things amicably in 2010—Mourinho taking the manager's job at Real Madrid, Balotelli joining Manchester City—but the problems their relationship suffered were well documented and would surely be of concern were the pair to join forces once more.

Balotelli's rap sheet under Mourinho was extensive, after all.

As The Telegraph reported at the time, when Inter defeated Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semifinal, he helped take the sheen off their victory by throwing his shirt to the ground, storming down the tunnel, unhappy with the San Siro crowd's reaction to him being a 75th-minute substitute for Diego Milito.

That led to teammates labeling him to be "like a child" and that he had "reacted poorly."

Prior to that he was frozen out of the first team earlier in the season due to a perceived lack of effort and poor attitude in training (via The Guardian). His reaction after the Barca victory left Mourinho aghast, arguing with the Italian media who seemed to see him as the problem, not Balotelli:

"

Nearly all of you [the media] for the last two years have been saying that what he does is normal and then there is just this idiot of a coach who says it is not normal.

The coach takes all the flak—I can't motivate him, I can't educate him, this or that [...] And then, in the second most important match in the world at club football level, all of my team leave the field dead and one player could have done a little bit more to help the team who was in danger.

The fans wanted more, his team-mates wanted more, and he [Balotelli] did not give it.

And then that thing with his shirt. Full stop.

"

These instances are just scratching the surface—there's been much more since, including an incident when Balotelli let off fireworks in his bathroom, almost setting alight his home while at Manchester City (via ESPN).

He continues to fall out with teammates, argue with match officials and challenge his manager's authority, as he did so publicly with Roberto Mancini at City, which ultimately led to his departure in January this year.

For some Balotelli is a loveable rogue, a character in the world of football when many other players are deemed to be found wanting.

Chelsea do not need characters, though. They need players of substance, players who bring much more than the focus of tabloid journalists waiting for their next headline to be signed, sealed and delivered.

We need only look to the reaction of Juan Mata and his current spell on the sidelines as Mourinho looks to shape to become a player more in his mould.

The Spaniard has been professional, and when quizzed on his absence, despite being Chelsea's Player of the Year for two years running, he answers in support of his manager.

Meanwhile, Balotelli is volatile and, while he has undoubted ability, is the antithesis of what Chelsea are trying to create.

"Mario is a great striker," his agent Raiola added in the Daily Mail. "That is for certain and he could perhaps be that at Chelsea."

His talent suggests that much, but his character tells us otherwise.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2013-14 season. Follow him on Twitter here @garryhayes