Mario Balotelli Branded 'Rotten Apple' by AC Milan Owner Silvio Berlusconi

AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi has torn into former striker Mario Balotelli, insisting that he never wanted the player at the club.

The Rossoneri chief pulled no punches with his assessment of the Italian international striker to La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Charlie Skillen of the Mail Online), claiming Balotelli is a “rotten apple” and the Serie A giants are better off without their former No. 45:

"

I remember [Balotelli] was bought against my advice.

We have many champions: Menez, Honda, El Shaarawy, Torres, De Jong. The base is there. And we no longer have a rotten apple in the dressing room.

"

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The quotes emerge not long after the club’s sporting director Umberto Gandini claimed the sale of the former Manchester City man made “everyone happy”, per the Daily Star Sunday (h/t Sky Sports). Earlier in the campaign, Milan’s new manager Filippo Inzaghi suggested the player’s sale will improve “team spirit and hunger,” per Peter Thompson of Goal.com.

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Milan decided to cash in on Balotelli after a turbulent 18 months at the San Siro. Liverpool snapped up the forward in a cut-price £16 million deal, but he’s endured a difficult start to life at Anfield; he’s yet to find the net in the Premier League for the Reds and was benched for the team’s most recent victory against West Bromwich Albion.

Brendan Rodgers has already been publicly critical of his new centre-forward too, insisting he must improve his goalscoring statistics, per Hamish Mackay of the Mail Online.

There’s never been any denying that Balotelli has the ability to reach the pinnacle of the game, but having played for four major European clubs at just 24 years of age, there’s clearly something inherent that makes him incapable of settling in and keeping his head down. Indeed, even established, successful managers like Jose Mourinho and Roberto Mancini were unable to placate him.

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But to be fair to the player, while the goals aren’t flying in at the moment, his attitude and application at Liverpool has been excellent. He’s tracked back, closed down and sacrificed himself for the good of the team plenty of times already in his relatively short career, endearing himself to the vast majority of the Anfield faithful.

If he keeps up those kinds of standards then the goals will eventually come. Indeed, the player himself promised Liverpool supporters that in time, he’ll deliver, per Nik Postinger:

But herein lies the most pertinent issue with Balotelli. He must showcase a marriage of consistent goalscoring and positive attitude traits for an extended period. Not just for a few games, or even for an entire season, but at the same club for a few successive years. 

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At Milan he started superbly, but with the team struggling in the Italian top flight during his second season, performances quickly took a nosedive and Balotelli resembled a player who was completely disinterested. With that in mind, there’s little surprise the feeling surrounding the player’s departure is one of unanimous positivity from key Rossoneri figures.

It’s all there for Balotelli. He’s at a great club with a wonderful manager, he’s shown that he can put the work in and, throughout his career, he’s showcased a predatory instinct in front of goal. If he can put it all together then the sky is the limit for him.

To do it he’ll have to buck the precedent he’s set throughout his career though, and based on the comments from Berlusconi, Gandini and Inzaghi, it’s not a trend anyone at Milan thinks will change any time soon.