While an injury-stricken Liverpool struggles to find enough players fit to put on the park, there have been rumours boiling up regarding on loan AC Milan forward Mario Balotelli.
The Reds took a gamble on the Italian at £16 million last season and there was certainly a sense of excitement with Balotelli’s arrival. After losing Luis Suarez to Spanish giants Barcelona, fans needed some encouragement going into the new season and Balotelli very much provided that.
His first game was away at Tottenham and in all fairness the signs looked very good. He played alongside Daniel Sturridge and caused the Spurs back four all sorts of problems. He looked a real threat and people watching felt that perhaps this was the time Balotelli finally settled and proved his worth to the world, but it was not to be.
His only season at Liverpool was a disaster. Everything you associate wrong with Balotelli was visible to the Anfield faithful. Only scoring one goal in the Premier League was enough for the fans to realise that this deal simply was not going to work and it was time to look elsewhere.
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Many blamed Brendan Rodgers for Balotelli’s first season in red (including the player himself), though anyone with any idea about the Italian knows he only ever has himself to blame. How you can point the finger at a manager for failing, considering you have failed everywhere else, is just absurd.
The only reason Balotelli ended up at Anfield was because of the infamous transfer committee that the owners (Fenway Sports Group) have put in place. Rodgers was in desperate search of a forward and Balotelli happened to be available and was recommended by the powers-that-be. The club decided to take the risk and no surprise, he was told he had no place at the club before the start of the 2015-16 season. Rodgers could have left him alone, but he was basically going into the season with just Daniel Sturridge and it is fairly obvious why he did not want that to be the case.
Here we are halfway through the 2015-16 season and Liverpool have a new face at the managers office at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp has worked wonders with certain individuals, we all saw what he did with his players at Borussia Dortmund and how he turned the likes of Marco Reus, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski into world class footballers, but it is hard to see the same happening with Balotelli.
When you talk about the way Klopp’s sides play, it is full throttle football with a very high intensity. There is simply no room for passengers, purely because if there is then his system just does not work.
When watching Balotelli, you see a player who just does not care. His lack of movement and interest should be enough for Liverpool to avoid recalling him back from AC Milan.
Christian Benteke has copped a fair amount of criticism from fans over social media in recent weeks due to his lack of movement and pressing, yet many would like to see Balotelli given another chance. It just simply does not add up. Why recall a player with the same attributes but criticise the other?
You can have all the talent in the world, but if a player is not prepared to fight and work, then they will not succeed, very much the case for Balotelli.
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It may have come across as a £16 million bargain at first, but there is a reason certain things in life come half-price. There is a reason managers such as Jose Mourinho and Roberto Mancini gave up on him and that is simply because he is unmanageable. He will be a player who is continuously moved on from club to club. There has been absolutely no evidence that suggests he has changed, or he is going to change.
At times last season his negative attitude on the pitch rubbed-off on those around him. When Suarez was leading the line he was pressing and closing players down which saw others follow. Balotelli did not begin the pressing, which therefore saw the others not feel the need to close players down and pressure them high up the pitch. If a few things were not going his way he dropped his head and it damaged the others mentally.
It was a mistake to expose him to the club in the first place, it would be an even worse mistake to expose him to Anfield yet again. Klopp is no fool and the idea of Balotelli returning should certainly not appeal to him. The Reds may have their injury woes at the minute but it still is not worth the gamble. Liverpool fans want to see players fight and commit, Balotelli offers neither and that is why he should not return.
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