Here’s a debut opinion piece from 17-year-old Kiwi Liverpool fan Jake Sinclair – @JakeoYT
It’s pretty raw, but good fun. Thanks Jake for your contribution!
Unless you live under a rock or quite frankly don’t have internet, you would be well aware of the drama that has followed ex Liverpool flop Mario Balotelli over the past 48 hours. Not only has his agent ‘Mino Raiola’, acted disgustingly but Mario has famously called Kop legend Jamie Carragher a ‘bad player, excellent hater’. No PR team could possibly say that this has been a success. I love Jamie Carragher as much as the next person, but you are deluded if you thought that Jamie didn’t have it coming. Insults are getting hurled left and right at Mario after his comments but angered fans are arguing that Jamie has achieved more than Mario has or ever will do.
I prefer Carragher 100%, and you will not find many players who can match the leadership and professionalism that Jamie boasts. But if you look at it factually and from an unbiased point of view, you will find that Mario has won more trophies and individual awards than Jamie, and he’s only 26. That being said, Mario was never going to get any compassion from the Liverpool faithful with a statement like that. I honestly believe that Mario hasn’t placed a foot wrong though, as all he has done is stand up for himself when getting slated by Carragher.
After all, Balotelli left Liverpool quietly. Carragher went out of his way to call him sh*te on social media. The former centre-back has made comments on television too, and Balotelli clearly couldn’t bite his tongue any longer. Let’s make it abundantly clear – Carra created this issue.
On the other hand, I can’t say the same about Raiola who hasn’t done much to enhance his already negative reputation. I do genuinely believe Mario has been treated poorly by Klopp, but I do understand why Klopp wouldn’t bother having someone he didn’t want in his plans training with the first team. Mino stated, “Mario has been exemplary. He never complained about training alone. To say that it was wrong of Klopp would be an understatement. He was a piece of sh*t about it.” (via Independent) I have no idea what Mino was trying to achieve by stating this, as Mario has found a new club already and has moved on.
Jake made a video, too!
So I genuinely don’t think there was any reason to bring up the past as it just makes Mino look salty. Compared to other players in Mario’s situation, I believe he acted very professionally when frozen from the team. You just have to look back to last season with the whole Valdes situation and the current Schweinsteiger one: these players complained publicly when disregarded by their manager. I can only give my utmost respect to Mario for not going against the club. So to sum everything up, I think Mario’s agent should be blamed and is deservedly under fire for speaking against us, but it’s unfair to criticise Mario for what he has done over the past 48 hours.
He has done nothing but stand up against another former Liverpool player and it’s not like Liverpool were affected at all by Balotelli’s comments. I will be the first to admit that Balotelli was a flop at Liverpool and he was a waste of 16 million pounds yet I do believe Balotelli was treated as a scapegoat for the 2014/15 season. Mario didn’t exactly fulfil anyone’s expectations but I think it was a transfer that just happened at the wrong time as we had just come off our best season in recent years. I hope the man we used to call ‘Super Mario’ does finally fulfil his amazing potential and becomes the striker he should have been.
The newspapers will now be much quieter as Mario will no longer steal the show off the pitch but for everyone’s sake, it is good that he has moved on. Good luck for your future endeavours, Mario. Just next time, maybe don’t have Mino Riola as your agent and don’t take shots at a Liverpool legend. It’s probably not the best idea.