Roberto Mancini says Mario Balotelli should be selected for Italy on merit, just like all other Azzurri hopefuls.
The 24-year-old forward has come under severe criticism following the Nazionale’s poor World Cup showing, but his former boss at Inter and Manchester City insists the player has enormous technical ability.
Roberto Mancini says Mario Balotelli should be selected for Italy on merit, just like all other Azzurri hopefuls.
The 24-year-old forward has come under severe criticism following the Nazionale’s poor World Cup showing, but his former boss at Inter and Manchester City insists the player has enormous technical ability.
“A Coach of the Nazionale needs to assess whether a player, Balotelli or anyone else, deserves to play,” Mancini told La Repubblica.
“If Mario deserves to be called up at the time a squad is announced because he is playing well in the League, I think he will be called up.
“If he doesn’t deserve it, he won’t be called up, but you need to assess every player that way.
“He has enormous technical ability. He did very well in the Euros and quite badly at the World Cup, so he needs to be monitored as things progress.”
The former Inter boss refused to rule out the possibility of taking over the Azzurri himself, though he added it was a question that should be asked to the FIGC rather than himself.
“You’ll have to ask the new President of the Federation. In any deal there is the financial side, the technical side – a lot of things and this goes for both national teams and clubs.
“We are coming off the back of two quite bad World Cups, where we have gone out in the Group Stages.
“Therefore, it is tempting to throw everything away, but that’s not how it is. In Italy there are always good players coming through and it is the same now.
“Unfortunately, at a World Cup if you mess up in one match everything becomes difficult.”