Silvio Berlusconi, AC Milan’s controversial owner of over 30 years, has made more stupid comments about Liverpool’s on-loan forward Mario Balotelli, reports the Guardian.
The former Italian prime minister claimed the 25-year-forward of Ghanaian descent, “Is an Italian, even though he’s taken too much sun.”
SEE MORE:
Chinese firms could pump huge cash into Liverpool, via main stand sponsorship
Flanno: “The fans and my mental strength got me through injury hell”
The comments are clearly in relation to Balotelli’s skin colour, and should be regarded as grossly unacceptable.
Balotelli has suffered racial abuse throughout his career in Italy, and regardless of your opinions on him as a player or person, it’s a sad indictment of the game on the continent and a testament to his resilience.
His loan spell on Italy is not going to plan, however.
Balotelli’s been injured, out of favour and was recently criticised by his manager Siniša Mihajlović (via Sky Sports) for not trying towards the end of a fixture. (An all too familiar tale, all Liverpool fans will know.)
He’s no future at Anfield, and could be sold to China in the summer – with the Times reporting Billy Hogan is currently in the Far East discussing a potential 2016 deal with CSL cubs.