The words that pretty much sum up Italian and Nice player Mario Balotelli has to be ‘Why Always Me?’
When the Italian moved to Nice after a turbulent career in the Premier League and second spell in Serie A, it seemed like he might have turned over a new leaf and started to become the hot prospect that many had tipped him to be.
However, we’re talking about Balotelli, remember?
With the former Manchester City player, it is sometimes hard to puzzle out a character like Balotelli, especially when the lines between comedian and footballer are so transparent to him.
Apparently, the former Manchester City forward has landed himself in hot water with the French club, with reports suggesting that he didn’t turn up to pre-season training.
According to the French newspaper L’Équipe(via GiveMeSport), Balotelli was much worse than most people would have expected — or he was simply being him.
The 28-year-old striker had turned up to training weighing 100kg. In most places, that wouldn’t be a big problem. We’re talking about football, though, so Balotelli weighed 12kg more than his actual weight should have been.
He failed to report when his teammates did, instead showed up two weeks after plus 12kg of extra weight.
“He didn’t feel any need to be there, as he was negotiating his transfer to Marseille at the time,” a Nice employee 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.”
The forward was left out of Italy’s next match, Monday’s UEFA Nations League match away at Portugal, and L’Equipe report that the player remains out of shape.
