5 Questions Liverpool Fans Would Love to Ask Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli is one of the most enigmatic footballers in the Premier League, and there are likely many Liverpool supporters who would like to pick the Italian striker's brains.
Having scored just one goal in 14 Premier League appearances so far this season since joining from AC Milan last summer, most would likely take a negative approach to questioning.
Balotelli famously posed the iconic "why always me?" during his time at Manchester City, in response to a hounding English media.
But what would Liverpool fans love to ask the striker himself?
Here are five likely queries, rounding off with a look at the Italian's Merseyside future.
Why Doesn't Brendan Rodgers Play to Your Strengths?
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A few months into Balotelli's Liverpool career, the striker outlined just how he feels he is best utilised, as reported by the Liverpool Echo's James Pearce:
"I have never been a real, out-and-out striker—I have always been someone who goes around the pitch, you know? If it was my choice, I would always go with two strikers. It’s the way I like to play, but Brendan asked me to play as the first striker. I understand that when the ball comes from wide on the left or right, I need to be in the box otherwise there might be no-one there at all.
"
As Balotelli suggests, his strengths lie in a roaming centre-forward's role, serving as the creative foil to a strike partner.
In his first season as a Liverpool player, Balotelli has rarely been used in a system that caters for a front two, despite the fact that when he was—most notably in August's 3-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur—he thrived alongside Daniel Sturridge.
Sturridge's long-term injury issues perhaps put paid to this, but Balotelli has rarely been used in his favoured role.
It is a quandary as to why not.
Why Always Ill?
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Despite what their often-mythologised status suggests, footballers are humans just like the rest of us and, of course, they're going to get colds every once in a while.
Balotelli seems to be an extraordinary case, however, with apparent battles with illness throughout the 2014/15 season.
According to PhysioRoom.com, Balotelli has been out with illness on three separate occasions this season, contributing to his lowly appearance record of just 14 Premier League games for the Reds.
The striker most recently had to counter claims from BT Sport pundit Robbie Savage that his sickly absence was "pathetic," by posting a picture of himself holding a thermometer showing a temperature of a feverish 38.7 degrees Celsius, as reported by Jack De Menezes of The Independent.
Balotelli's illness seems to be legitimate, but it is still a bizarre situation in typical footballing terms.
When Will You Replicate Your Wonderstrike for Milan vs. Bologna?
3 of 5When Balotelli joined Liverpool last summer, he was roundly considered a risk by manager Brendan Rodgers but also a player who, when on form, is capable of producing true match-winning magic.
A large measure of this stemmed from a sensational, long-range wonderstrike that Balotelli registered as a Milan player in a 1-0 win at home to Bologna in last season's Serie A.
This languid quality was a different proposition to the style Liverpool supporters had come to know under Rodgers, but a goal-of-the-season contender is a goal-of-the-season contender.
Unfortunately, the striker has failed to replicate anything of the sort on Merseyside.
Balotelli has averaged 3.5 shots per game in the Premier League this season, more than any other Liverpool player, and has scored just one league goal.
That goal was a tap-in winner that helped the Reds win 3-2 at home to Spurs in February—far removed from the majesty of that which consigned Bologna to defeat just under a year previously.
How Does It Feel to Be on Course to Be Liverpool's 'Player of the Year'?
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As the season nears an end, Liverpool have organised their annual Player of the Year vote, available for contribution on their official website.
While Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Mamadou Sakho represent genuine front-runners, Balotelli seems to be emerging as an unlikely favourite to win the award, according to Simon Rice and Tom Dutton of The Independent.
"It seems that the Liverpool media team might have made a mistake when they allowed the general public to participate in selecting the club's Player of the Year," they claim.
"The hashtag #VoteBalotelli has since been created and both Manchester United and Arsenal supporters have taken to social media urging fellow fans to help hijack the poll."
Balotelli's paltry season's return underlines why he is not quite deserving of such an honour, but as it is a public poll, there is every chance the 24-year-old will receive the most votes.
The question is, perhaps, would the striker accept the award if he is named the winner?
Will You Still Be Here Next Summer?
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After enduring a torrid first season on Merseyside, speculation has been rife as to whether it will be Balotelli's only one as a Liverpool player.
Most recently, Sampdoria president Massimo Ferrero threw his hat into the ring for a potential summer wrangle for Balotelli's services, as reported by Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Neil Jones of the Liverpool Echo).
"I would take him—he'd be the real Balotelli again here. He wouldn’t have too much pressure here in Genoa," Ferrero said.
"He's lost his hunger. He’s earning too much. If he was only on bread and water, he'd be a champion again."
It may be quite a hopeful punt by Ferrero, who clearly suggests Balotelli would have to take a wage cut—for his own good, of course—at the Serie A club, but the striker is well suited to the slow pace of the Italian league.
However, as Balotelli's agent Mino Raiola told David Maddock of the Mirror back in January that "the plan is for him to continue at Anfield," and he will leave as a success or "die there," this suggests a move is unlikely.
But clearly out of favour and underperforming, will Balotelli really still be at Liverpool next summer?
Statistics via WhoScored.com.
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