Morning guys, as promised in my first weekly column in the paper today and here some more insights why I believe Mario Balotelli could split Liverpool's dressing room. Please don't get me wrong, he undoubtedly has talent and skills, but as I said in my feature his on-pitch performances are not good enough to justify his off-pitch drama.
Balotelli promised to be a good boy and Brendan Rodgers said he has worked many times with similar players, but have his previous trouble makers done these things?
1) 'Because I'm Rich'
During his time at Manchester City, Balotelli was said to be earning an eye-watering £175,000-per-week, an amount he had to cut down on for Liverpool.
In late 2011, seemingly at the height of his Manchester City madness, Balotelli crashed his car and when carrying a routine check for drugs and alcohol on his person, police discovered £5,000 stuffed into the back pocket of his jeans. Asked why he was carrying a suspiciously large sum of cash the Italian allegedly offered the simple reply, "Because I'm rich".
2) Bullseye
Another story from 2011 revealed that Balotelli had been caught throwing darts at City youth team players from a first floor window at the club's training ground. Nobody was hurt as a result of the prank and the player allegedly admitted he had done it because he was "bored".
The subsequent fine that City dished out for the incident was said to have brought the total for his behaviour that season to an estimated £300,000.
3) Prisonbreak
One of Balotelli's earliest crazy antics came not long after he joined City in the autumn of 2010. On a trip home to Italy both he and his younger brother Enock had decided they wanted to look around a women's prison but were detained and questioned because they didn't have proper documentation.
Prison officials revealed, "(Mario and Enock) said they saw the gate opened and never imagined they would need a special permit to visit the prison. The two were particularly intrigued by the fact it was a women's prison."
4) Mario On Fire
On the eve of Manchester City's famous 6-1 rout of neighbours United at Old Trafford in October 2011 it was revealed that fire crews and police had rushed to Balotelli's rented Cheshire mansion after a blaze had broken out in his bathroom.
It turned out that several fireworks had been set off indoors, though Balotelli was adamant that it was his friends' doing and he had only witnessed the events when it was too late.
5) Fight Club
The writing was perhaps finally on the wall for poor old Mario after he and long suffering boss Roberto Mancini had to be pulled apart on the training after a practice match descended into pushing and shoving between the two Italians.
A witness said: "They just started grappling with each other... He (Mancini) was trying to throw him around and show him who was in charge. But Balotelli is a big old boy and you are not going to move him that easily."
In other episodes Balotelli went on TV wearing an AC Milan shirt with his name on the back while playing for bitter rivals Inter. Once, he also brought his iPad to the bench of an Italy international against Faroe Islands because he wanted to play games.
Can Brendan Rodgers really stop these moments of madness and how will he handle it when Balotelli does what he does best? Has 'Super Mario' grown up or could he split Liverpool's dressing room? I am keen to hear your view.
Cheers,
David
