Agent Mino Raiola confessed he should’ve been harder on Mario Balotelli, but the new Nice signing “will absolutely return to the Premier League.”
The striker has always shown immense potential, but struggled with attitude problems, confidence and consistency.
Raised in the Inter academy, he was sold to Manchester City for €29.5m in 2010, moved to Milan in January 2013 for €20m and moved to Liverpool in 2014.
Agent Mino Raiola confessed he should’ve been harder on Mario Balotelli, but the new Nice signing “will absolutely return to the Premier League.”
The striker has always shown immense potential, but struggled with attitude problems, confidence and consistency.
Raised in the Inter academy, he was sold to Manchester City for €29.5m in 2010, moved to Milan in January 2013 for €20m and moved to Liverpool in 2014.
“I should not have given him his way when he asked to leave City. It is the one big mistake I made,” Raiola told The Daily Mail.
“Mario was unhappy and I should have said, ‘You’re feeling ****? You don’t like your job? Tough, grow up, get on with it.’ I needed to be cruel to be kind, but I was too nice.
“Mario’s flaw was that he was looking for love. He needed to be egocentric. He needed to eat, sleep, **** and **** football, no one else.
“Football needs to be his priority, not a fiancee, not even a wife. To be a top athlete, you make the sacrifice and after 11 or 12 years you redress the balance then lead the life you want.
“Pavel Nedved, who was one of my first players, had that focus to be a success and he was a model family man. Mario didn’t have that focus, then he got a reputation and if you have a reputation you don’t have credibility. That makes it more difficult.”
Balotelli said joining Liverpool was “the worst mistake of my life,” but seems to be finding his confidence again at OGC Nice, bagging a brace on his Ligue 1 debut.
“Mario and Jurgen Klopp never had a chance because Klopp never gave him a chance. I said Klopp acted like a piece of **** towards him and he can’t deny he made Mario an outcast.
“I had experience with Klopp at Dortmund. He can’t tell people that he treated Mario like a human being at Liverpool.
“If you want to sell him it’s up to you but he is still a Liverpool player and, while he is, show him respect. He needed 90 minutes in friendlies but he trained outside the first team. What did he do wrong in the last two years?
“Mario said he made a mistake joining Liverpool. I don’t regret choosing Liverpool although I’m not sure Brendan Rodgers wanted him.”
Despite these difficult experiences, Raiola remains confident a return to England is on the cards.
“Italy is unlivable for him because of the attention he gets. If he proves he can become stable at Nice and score goals then imagine how attractive he would be to a Premier League manager next summer as a free agent.
“France needs him, like they needed Zlatan (Ibrahimovic). He is good for the league but he will absolutely return to the Premier League.
“What would a real manager rather do? Gamble £100m on a striker or take Balotelli? Because no one can tell me he is not a world-class talent.”