The Premier League won’t be the same without the enigmatic Balotelli

Ciao, Mario.

It’s no secret that Mario Balotelli loves to be in the thick of things; the man never shies away from the limelight and it looks like being away is his kryptonite.

And it appears his not-so-clandestine-affair with the English paparazzi is drawing to a close, as Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has finally called it quits with Balotelli.

AC Milan has agreed to a deal to bring the striker back home on a four-and-a-half-year contract, the Italian club has confirmed. The clubs are believed to have agreed a fee of 19m, rising to £22m with add-ons.

With Balotelli, 22, leaving the champions by deadline day, the Premier League will not be the same anymore. The mercurial Italian is what makes it special; the same way Jose Mourhino did in the mid-2000’s.

The Italian, who arrived in August of 2010 from Inter Milan, has endured a frustrating campaign thus far, scoring only one league goal in 14 appearances. ‘Super-sub’ Edin Dzeko’s form and knack of scoring key goals hasn’t helped his cause either.

Mancini and Balotelli shared an almost father-and-son bond.

But while Mancini’s admiration for him is conspicuous, their recent physical bust-up seems to have left a sour taste in the mouth of the only man that believed in him. The pair shares a love-hate relationship reminiscent of that of a father and his immature teenage son.

Balotelli’s latent potential is visible for all to see. But that is just one side of his split personality; fulfilling his obvious talent would be the other. Sadly, all he has ever done is shown us flashes of it.

For the last year or so, Balotelli has done little or nothing to warrant his place not only in the team but also on the match-day squad. Unfortunately for City, his best form has come in the Blue of his national team. His brilliant brace against Germany in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 left us asking for more. But that’s all he did: leave us asking.

He was unplayable when City demolished their cross-town rivals United 6-1 at Old Trafford. But that’s probably the only performance of his that stands out in the Blue of City. For the better part of his two-and-a-half years in Manchester, he has proved to be brash and callous. When presented with a glorious goal-scoring chance in a pre-season game, he tried an embarrassing back-heel, which, not surprisingly, ended up as a goal-kick.

Both on and off the field, Balotelli has always had two sides.

Off it, to say the enigmatic Italian is a wee bit ‘cuckoo’ in the head would be a little shy of an understatement. From setting his house ablaze to throwing darts at youth players ‘just because he was bored’, Balotelli is totally bonkers.

And that’s not even half the list. The other side of Balotelli visited a local school to make use of their lavatories. After which the City striker talked to students in the canteen and walked into the staff room; while the softer but spoilt side has sometimes struggled to put on even a training bib and has required help.

One can understand why the eccentric forward is worth so much. But the question any manager or club would ask themselves is, ‘would he really be worth the trouble?’

When it has come to the business end of things, Balotelli has rarely delivered. For a £24m investment, he has only scored 30 in 75 in all competitions, while accumulating 4 red cards & 23 yellow cards

And the pragmatic thing his employers are doing is cutting their losses of £170,000-per-week, for all he has ever done has found the back pages of the dailies (for right or wrong), but hardly the back of the net.

Mancini maybe ‘so sad’ to see him leave but he did try for over two years and fail as he played the father card, his patience finally running thin with the often infuriating and exasperating forward. Perhaps what Balotelli actually needs is a friend back home. But even that might not be of any help seeing how the recent past has panned out.

Why Always Him?

Having sulked, thrown a tantrum or two and lifting his shirt to display the message “Why Always Me?”, is what has made him a cult hero. And the thing about cults is that you either love them or hate them. But whichever side you take, they will still amuse and entertain. And Mario always did (off the pitch).

‘Super Mario’ always left us wanting for more (on it) but there is no doubt that the Premier League and England will miss the craziness of this enigmatic genius.

Arrivederci, Mario.