Mario Balotelli returned to Nice overweight, and his response comes as no surprise at all.
The Italian striker was slapped with a fine for returning to his club overweight. He apparently turned up weighing 103 kg – 16 stone.
And, naturally, Balotelli has poked fun of the situation by uploading a rather hilarious photo-shopped picture of himself on social media, not to mention another post which includes some scathing words.
“Me fined for being overweight? 1 Look at the physique I’ve got! It’s laughable that you talk of me being overweight,” he wrote on Instagram Stories via Football Italia.
“2 Now go **** yourselves with your invented garbage! Now you even say I’ve been fined? Whoever wrote that ought to lose their job.”
Meanwhile, a Nice employee commented on Balotelli’s weight.
“He didn’t feel any need to be there, as he was negotiating his transfer to Marseille at the time,” he told L’Équipe.
“He knew he was suspended for the first three games of Ligue 1, so he wasn’t in good shape.”
It looks like the additional weight isn’t helping his case with Nice manager Patrick Vieira.
“In the game against Lyon, you saw that he’s not yet ready to play 90 minutes,” he said. “He still has a lot of work to do.”
“We’ll have to be patient with him because, unfortunately, he didn’t do the start of pre-season training.
“Regarding his attitude, he’s good, he’s working well. He’s got a positive attitude. That’s the most important thing.”
