Manchester City Transfer Rumours: 5 Reasons Why Mario Balotelli Has to Leave Now

The arrival of most £24 million signings at a football club is usually met with a great sense of optimism and anticipation among football fans. Mario Balotelli’s arrival at Manchester City attracted a barrage of skepticism and uncertainty.

The twenty year old striker has all the credentials needed to be a world class striker. He has a lethal finish, an eye for open space, a great first touch and an incredible amount of strength at his disposal.

The problem is the Italian also has all of the credentials needed to be a grade-A disaster for a football club. At times he seems full of anger, shows erratic behavior and all too often his professional attitude is shadowed by arrogance.

To quote the striker himself, his first season was “sh*t.” He was burdened by injury and found it difficult to adapt to English football. On top of this he openly admitted to suffering from home sickness and found it hard to consistently find his goal scoring touch.

This slideshow will argue that Manchester City is better off without the striker. All too often he has shown himself to be a liability for the club. His performances on the pitch have frequently been overshadowed by his antics off of it.

He Wants to Leave the Club

Carlos Tevez may have earned himself the title of being Manchester City’s perennial whiner, but Mario Balotelli has done little to keep his discontent with life in the north of England quiet either.

In January, British newspapers were already linking him with a departure away from the Etihad Stadium. Despite being six months into a five-year contract, The Daily Mail reported that the troubled Italian said “Me with Ibra[himovic] and Cassano at Milan? It’ll happen soon.”

At that time the twenty-year old striker conceded that his immediate future was with City.

“For this year, and another, I will stay at City where I’m fine,” he added.

Eight months have since passed and the Italian has once again linked himself with a move to A.C Milan, this time jumping on Carlos Tevez’s bandwagon by declaring that the city is not to his taste.

“I am not happy in Manchester, I do not like the city.” Balotelli said. “I miss the chance to be at home with my family and with my friends.”

Balotelli did however admit the problem was with him and not down to the pressures of playing for a club of Manchester City’s stature.

“With my teammates and my manager, everything is fine,” he declared.

While it is all too easy to blow these words out of proportion, the fact at the heart of the matter remains the same. Mario Balotelli wants to leave Manchester City.

It is never healthy for a club to keep a player who is discontent at life with their employer. It is a lesson Arsenal has learned the hard way and something Tottenham are finding out as the fiasco surrounding the future of Luka Modric unfolds.

Manchester City had already endured the destabilizing pressure that Carlos Tevez’s transfer request has placed on the club. They have handled it well. A similarly decisive approach must be taken with Balotelli.

If a player is not content with life at the club, then naturally his performance level is likely to drop. Balotelli’s commitment to the team’s cause is already sporadic, anything that could potentially compromise it further will have a negative effect on the team.

Given Balotelli’s track record, it will be difficult to sell him. That doesn’t mean to say that they shouldn’t try to though.

He Is a PR Nightmare

Joey Barton’s unwelcome tweets of discontent on Twitter have become a PR nightmare for Newcastle football club. The board’s decision to offer him to other clubs on a free transfer has tarnished their already blotted reputation.

Having one of your footballers linked to a mafia gang however takes things to another level. On June 6,  Mario Balotelli was accused of glamorising the Naples mafia by allowing them to take him on a tour of the southern city of Scampia. Police intelligence said that the striker had been photographed in the presence of two alleged Mafiosi.

This is not the only PR disaster City have had to deal with while Balotelli has been under their books.

On October 1, 2010, the £24 million striker was questioned by the police after he and his 17-year-old brother, Enock, drove into a women’s prison without permission.

Again, he is unnecessarily diverting attention away from Manchester City’s first team and onto himself.

One final example of his inability to stay out of trouble occurred on September 5, 2010. The Mirror reports the Italian was asked by police why he had £5,000 cash in the back of his pocket. He responded, “Because I am rich.”

In the modern era football clubs are, for better or for worse, being run as businesses. PR is an essential part of business.

If a player continues to bring himself into disrepute, he is indirectly attracting negative attention to the club. Clubs are dependent upon income from sponsorship to operate, even Manchester City.

It is lucky that Sheikh Mansour has all the right contacts at Etihad, because many businesses may feel differently about having their company associated with Mario Balotelli.

He Is Too Hot Headed

It is never a good idea to blame a single player for the team’s inability to scrape a result, but Mario Balotelli did precious little to aid City’s cause against Dynamo Kiev in a Europa League second-leg fixture on Thursday, March 17.

The striker earned himself a red card after committing a high challenge, with his studs exposed, on Goran Popov.

City went on to win the game 1-0, but it was not enough to overturn the two goal deficit they earned in the first leg.

Asked if he hopes Balotelli would be frustrated by his red card, Mancini said, “I hope (so). Because I think with 11 players we would have won this game and got to the quarter-finals."

“The problem for Mario is that he thinks he could be a fantastic player," he said. "But when he does something stupid like that, it is difficult for me, difficult for him and difficult for the team.”

In Mario Balotelli’s first 15 games for Manchester City, he earned himself a tally of nine yellow cards and 2 reds.

If you are striving to achieve the heights the Citizens are so desperate to achieve, it is essential that the team is able to keep calm and play under pressure. Balotelli’s disciplinary record suggests he is incapable of doing this.

At twenty, Balotelli is very young. There is time for him to change. Unfortunately it seems this type of behaviour is too heavily ingrained in his personality. Surely it is healthier for the club to cut its losses now rather than risk him making a rash challenge at an important time?

He Plays for Himself, Not the Team

Great players past and present may have been able to win their team's matches by merit of their own individual brilliance, but all professional footballers will tell you football is a team game.

Despite playing alongside ten other teammates, it seems the striker has made the mistake of thinking Manchester City games are ‘the Mario Balotelli show,’ rather than a competitive fixture.

The infamous back heel attempt against the Los Angeles Galaxy highlights the problems Balotelli has with his ego.

The striker was clean through on goal but arrogantly opted to needlessly try and back hell the ball past the goalkeeper. The move failed miserably, much to the annoyance of strike partner Edin Dzeko, who was powerless to do anything about Balotelli’s lack of respect, despite being two feet away.

This action shows he has no respect for the team's overall performance. The fact it was a preseason fixture does not justify his desire to showboat—there is still a game to be won.

Mario’s disciplinary record has let the team down on several occasions. A red card against West Brom meant he was unable to play any part in the Manchester derby coming up on November 8. He was red carded for violent conduct against Youssouf Mulumbu.

He cost Manchester City £24 million, which makes him one of the clubs most valuable assets. Teams need such assets in important games. There is no bigger game for City than the Manchester derby, but Balotelli eliminated himself from playing a role.

The same can be said of Balotelli’s antics against Dinamo Kiev in the second leg of a Europa League encounter.

The striker earned himself a red card after committing a high challenge, with his studs exposed, on Goran Popov.

City went on to win the game 1-0 but it was not enough to overturn the two goal deficit they earned in the first leg.

Again, when City needed one of its big players to perform, he shot himself and the club in the foot.

If Manchester City is to reach the dizzying heights of world football, they need a team they can rely on. All of City’s players have shown they are dependable, perhaps with the exception of Dzeko. At least Dzeko is making a visible effort to find some form.

The club cannot go into games with the fear that Mario will at some point let them down. In important clashes you need to keep a level head and with Balotelli in the ranks it is hard to do that. The team is fighting a mental battle before they even exit the tunnel.

He Has No Respect for Authority

At Chelsea, Jose Mourinho kept some of the biggest ego’s in world football in check. The likes of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka played under the special one, creating no real difficulties. Despite this, the Portuguese coach was unable to tame Mario Balotelli.

Roberto Mancini also managed the troubled striker at Inter, and believed he would be able to calm the twenty year old striker down. So far, he has mostly failed.

The manager has consistently taken measures to try and install some self-control into the troubled striker but his best efforts seem to have fallen short.

Substituting him after his failed back heel seemed to anger the Italian further.

Criticising him for being sent off against West Brom was not a strong enough lesson to prevent him from repeating a similar feat against Dinamo Kiev.

Defending him has only led to him finding another way to embarrass himself.

It is important that players respect a manager’s authority and listen to what they are told. Without either of these a team cannot be expected to progress.

To date, Balotelli has frequently showed signs that he does not respect the manager’s authority, or that he is able to listen to advice. Manchester City is a developing club, but it seems Balotelli is unable to keep up with developments.

What Do You Think?

So, that's my opinion. Let me know what you think.

Should Manchester City keep Mario Balotelli?

Do you think he can change?

Am I being too harsh on him?