Italian reckons his former protege is wasting his ability…
Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini, the man who first brought Mario Balotelli to England, has delivered a grave warning to the 24-year-old striker, the Mirror reports.
The pair famously had a training ground scuffle whilst both at Manchester City, but despite this, their relationship was close, and Mancini is still the coach who’s got closest to maximising the sublimely talented but sublimely frustrating forward’s ability.
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“I have not heard from Mario since we worked together at Manchester City,” Mancini began.
“It has all gone downward a bit since he left City. I thought he would do well at Milan, but it didn’t happen.
“Mario is at risk of following the same path as Adriano. I hope that he wakes up one morning and realises that he is wasting everything.”
Balotelli has yet to score a Premier League goal for us, and can’t get in the starting XI either right now under Brendan Rodgers.
There were rumours that he’d depart this January, but his best chance of revitalising a stumbling career is getting his head down at Liverpool and proving Rodgers and many of us supporters wrong – because it would be a travesty if he did end up like Adriano.
At one point in the mid-noughties, the Brazilian was racking up Serie A titles with Inter Milan, and was rightly regarded as one of the best strikers in the world. However, since he turned 28, he’s only managed to bag one league goal, has played for five clubs, has put on a huge amount of weight, and was charged in 2014 for offences linked to a Brazilian drug lord. He’s still only 32-years-old, but his career as a top level footballer is over.