Player Focus: Is Signing Mario Balotelli Worth All the Hassle?
Mario Balotelli has never been far from controversy, and now even an innocent move from Milan back to the north west of England is attracting a lot of attention for the wrong reasons. Having been at Inter from the age of just 16, Balotelli appeared on Italian television in a rival Milan shirt in 2010 and moved to the Rossoneri after an interim period in Manchester. Now, with Milan out of Europe and flailing about in mid-table Serie A mediocrity, he has deserted his childhood club when they need him most, and he is on his way back to the Premier League, this time to join the side that last season ran his former club City closest to the title.
The forward is not one to shy away from a tricky situation, and the prospect of a frosty reception at the Etihad - though as the deal is not yet done, he will not feature as early as Monday night - will only spur him on. Liverpool and City are hardly the fiercest of enemies, but given their geographical proximity and Liverpool's title challenge last season, Balotelli's arrival won't be welcomed by City's fans and will only serve to fuel the rivalry.
Thus, it looks like Balotelli will be a Liverpool player in the coming days as the Reds look to rebuild after Luis Suarez's departure to Barcelona earlier this summer. So far, the players they have brought in all have their risks: Adam Lallana, at 26 years old and roughly £25m, could do fairly well but may not even start every game and is unlikely to have anything like the same sell-on value; Lazar Markovic cost £20m and is still a very raw talent at the age of 20; Emre Can may not settle in the Premier League; even Rickie Lambert, at a mere £4m, is a risk in that he may struggle to adapt to a bit-part role. And yet, Balotelli will still be the most risky of them all.
With a temperament that leaves him on the edge of cracking and say, stamping on the head of an opponent - as Scott Parker could attest - Balo plays with a fire in his belly that is not dissimilar to Suarez. With the Uruguayan, that is a risk worth taking given the quality he provides and the fact that more often than Balotelli he channels his frustration into beating the opposition, but for the Italian doubts rightly remain as to the worth of signing him.
José Mourinho has a great anecdote about wasting his whole half-time team talk begging Balotelli to calm down after he had been booked in a 2009/10 Champions League group stage game at Rubin Kazan. Predictably, Balotelli took just 15 second half minutes to receive his marching orders and Inter went on to draw a game that the eventual European champions would have expected to win.
He was sent off three times during his time at Manchester City: away at West Brom, Arsenal and Liverpool. Of those games, City won only at the Hawthorns. During his time at Milan he was sent off once for club (in a 2-1 loss to Napoli, which was noteworthy for another reason) and once for country in a key World Cup qualifier in the Czech Republic, which they drew 0-0. Clearly, when things turn sour for Balotelli, his team suffers and unfortunately, that happens all too often.
As with any such signing, the pros need to be weighed against the cons, and one of Balotelli's undoubted pluses is his penalty-taking ability. However, after a run of 21 consecutive successful attempts from 12 yards, he missed one in that aforementioned clash with Napoli. Then, only 2 months later he missed another penalty against Genoa. The player who had hit 12 goals in his first 13 appearances for Milan looked unrecognisable. Could it have been that the irrepressible Balotelli had taken a blow to his confidence from the spot?
He hit 14 goals in 30 Serie A appearances last season, but his growing frustration was plain to see. In a floundering side, Balotelli was taking it upon himself to try and change things single-handedly. He attempted 152 shots, at a rate of 5.1 per game. His resultant conversion rate of 9.2% was the worst of the 117 players to reach double figures for goals in Europe's top 5 leagues last season.
Having plenty of shots and scoring a decent number of goals is not inherently negative (Suarez had by a distance the most shots in the Premier League last season), but with Balotelli it tends to be frustration that, when it doesn't manifest itself in violence and lashing out, it comes out in a childish approach to his profession as tries to shoot at every opportunity and often not the right ones. It is telling that 14 of his 26 Serie A goals for Milan were either penalties or direct free-kicks. From open play he is far less clinical.
Of course, 26 goals in 43 league appearances in 18 months in Italy is a very good return. No Serie A player fared better during Balotelli's latest stint in Italy. We all know from his time at Manchester City that there is potential there for him to be an unquestioned, free-scoring success. His movement is brilliantly clever, as Gary Cahill discovered at the World Cup, but that is when the striker can be bothered. When he loses motivation - which is all too often - petulance surfaces.
At Liverpool, Balo would want to be the main striker, which would mean a change in role for Daniel Sturridge. Whether sacrificing the England international's threat in front of goal would be beneficial for the club would totally depend on how many goals Balotelli can provide. Furthermore, a high press is part of Brendan Rodgers' philosophy; Suarez and Lallana were top of the Premier League for possession regains in the final third of the pitch last season (31 times each), showing firstly what Rodgers asked of Suarez and secondly why he bought Lallana. Comparatively Balotelli won the ball just 10 times all season in the attacking third for Milan. Players can adapt, but can Balotelli (be bothered to) become the kind of work-horse Suarez was? Probably not.
For a reported £16m signing the Italy international makes sense for Liverpool, if only because it's very unlikely he'd be sold on for much less than £10m if his Anfield foray did not work out. However, with all the baggage that comes with him, the risk might just be too great for the Reds, and they may pay the price on the field, just like each of Balotelli's previous clubs have done too.
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