Everybody knows Mario Balotelli is talented and has massive potential. Whether you like him, love him, hate him or despise him, nobody can deny that he is a great player. However, just how good is he now and how good can he become?
If you read my blog regularly, you'll have noticed I posted(lipumafootball.blogspot.com) a list of who I believe are the top 20 players in the world, not too long ago. On that list, I had Mario at number 7, just below Gareth Bale and just above Edinson Cavani. Some people might say I'm absolutely crazy for putting him that high, some might agree with me and some people might even say he's higher than that. I thoroughly believe Mario is a top 10 player in the world and would even argue he is a top 5. However, you could argue he's not top 10 or 15 or even 20. According, to EA Sports, he's not even top 50, which is going too far, in my opinion. The world of football is so gifted and so talented and competitive that ranking players is just pointless. What Mario is for a fact, is a phenomenal player who, at the age of just 23, has accomplished more than players in their 30s. He won the Treble with Inter when he was only 19, he won the Premier League at 22 and was a runner-up in the Euros also at 22 years old. In each of those titles, he played a vital role in his team's success. Now, he could even win the World Cup before he's even 24 years old. Talk about a resume. Besides players like Pirlo, De Rossi and Buffon, it's not hard to argue that Mario Balotelli is the best Italian player and looks like he will be for a long time. He is on pace to becoming one of the best players the world has ever seen and when he says winning the Ballon d'Or is one of his goals, you can't blame him for going for it. Messi and Ronaldo may be way beyond Mario's level, but Mario is - believe it or not - still considered a "young, developing talent". He's an incredible, 25 for 25 on penalties due to his unflappable confidence and his slight pause just before he strikes to the ball. Mario's thought of as a typical, Italian number 9, who just stands in the box and finishes. But Mario is so much more than that. He has incredible creativity and finesse to his game. From his iconic "scorpion pass", to his backheels, his reverse-footed chips across the field to a flying winger, his "Ronaldo-like" free kicks or his blasts from 15 yards outside the box into the upper corner. Many people also don't know that Mario has loads of pace. See him run full speed in a straight line and he'd be able to keep up with Jesus Navas, no problem. As if there wasn't anything else to add, there is. He is an extremely versatile forward, as he can play as a lone target man or on the left or right wing. He can either way wait as far up as possible for a midfielder to give him a long, deep ball to chase, like what Montolivo did versus Germany in the Euros and it created one of the most famous goals(and celebrations) we have seen; or, Mario can drop back into the midfield and help build up the play, much like what Messi does. Mario Balotelli can do it all. He is almost an identical copy of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in how well-rounded of a forward he is. Seemingly enough, Mario can become even better than Ibrahimovic, and, in a way, he has already accomplished more than Zlatan has in his career. Mario Balotelli has all the tools to become, I'm going to say it, the best player in the world. Even beyond Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic or Bale. Messi can't go up for headers, Ronaldo can only play on the left wing, Ibra can do it all, but is possible to be better than and Bale has proven he can carry a team, but only has one season of true greatness under his belt and hasn't won anything yet. The only thing holding Mario back is the rage being held inside him and is released when defenders tackle him in a dirty way or when he can't finish chances. Imagine a Mario Balotelli with the calmness of Andrea Pirlo. There is no doubt that would be the most lethal striker in the world, but it's all up to Mario himself to make it happen.
There is no doubt that Messi and Ronaldo are the two best players in the world and by no means am I saying Mario Balotelli is better than either of them, but Mario absolutely has the qualities to his game to be better than them. At the age of 23, Mario is still 2-4 years from his prime and if he is this good now, the thought of him only getting better is ridiculous and makes you wonder just how much talent can be fit into one person. Goals, wins, trophies and most importantly, time, will tell what Mario will become. From now to the end, it will be pure entertainment. On the pitch and off of it. It will always be him.
It was one of the biggest blockbuster moves Milan had made in a long time. It was a move Milan desperately needed in the middle of what was considered a horrid season by Milan standards. There were fans at the airport waiting for Mario's arrival, screaming, cheering, waving red & black in the night sky. It was like the white knight had arrived to save us. All the attention, all the pressure of the most successful club in the world was now solely on Mario Balotelli and he absolutely embraced it. The signing of him not only reenergized Milan and Milanisti alike, but it reenergized Mario as well. He was finally playing for his favorite club not too far from his family in hometown Brescia. It was a dream debut for him. Mario's first match for Milan was against Udinese at the San Siro. Stephan El Shaarawy came down the right-hand side and tried to put the ball in the box, but it was deflected by some defenders and eventually found it's way to Mario's left foot. Mario smashed it in to score his for goal for Milan and give Milan the 1-0. Then in injury time Mario stepped up to take a PK in a 1-1 game, unsurprisingly, he scored and Milan won the match 2-1 all thanks to Mario Balotelli. Mario went on to score a goal in practically every single game for Milan for the rest of the season and push them into 3rd place in Serie A, to qualify them for the Champions League.
You can just tell Mario is at home in Milan. He's very happy and comfortable, playing great and not getting in the media for the wrong reasons like he did in Manchester. Mario has always been a love/hate kind of guy and while he was at Manchester, it was pretty clear he was mostly hated. However, since his move to Milan, his popularity has gone up even more and has won many fans over. Mario is the heart of Milan now. He's also the face of the Azzurri. His move to Milan has not just directly helped the club or himself, but has taken massive attention and pressure off the entire squad, especially Stephan El Shaarawy. In the first half of the 2012/13 season, Stephan was the only Milan player performing and all focus was on him. Mario's arrival in January completely changed that. He loves attention and handles pressure as if there isn't any pressure at all. Mario is a completely different person now, mentally. He is relaxed and can focus his attention completely on playing football. After an extremely successful half season with Milan, Mario continued his run of form into the Confederations Cup in Brazil. He helped Italy take third place after a lose to Spain in the semi-final and a win over Uruguay in the third place match. He is establishing himself a one of the best in the world and why he can help Italy win it's 5th or even 6th World Cup.
Trying to explain what Mario Balotelli is like to somebody, is like trying to explain how babies are made to a 5 year old. They'll laugh, they'll cringe and eventually become confused. Not even Mario himself can explain his personality. "If I tried to explain my personality to you, we'd be here for 2 days", he once said to an interviewer while at Manchester City. With his big personality, the clothes, the cars, the girls, jewelry and most importantly, the footballing skills, Mario Balotelli has become one of the biggest icons in not just Italy, but the world. However, a lot of people don't know much about him and that creates a lot of misconceptions.
~Who He Was
Mario Barwuah was born into a poor Ghanaian family in Palermo, Sicily. Nearly dying from an intestine disease at the age of three and not being able to afford the medical bills, his parents sent Mario to a foster family in Brescia, a town not too far away from Milan. The Balotelli family. Thanks to the Balotelli's, Mario's life was saved and within a matter of weeks, he started playing football for the first time in his life. By the age of six, Mario would go everyday after school to a football field and play for hours and hours each day with either friends or by himself. He would try to mimic players on the Azzurri at the time and try to be just like them. Mario took this very seriously and truly wanted to get better each day. On days when he wasn't able to play, Mario said he would cry for the rest of the day and not eat dinner. The Balotelli's saw that Mario had talent and decided to let him start playing competitively for a small club team in Brescia. At the age of 16, Mario got his first crack at professional football with Serie C1 side, Lummezzane. Coaches instantly saw the potential Mario had, but Mario was only able to make 2 appearences with the senior team. Despite barely making it with the senior team at Lummezzane, Inter knew Mario was something to look out for and when he was 18, Inter signed him to a 3 year contract. This is where Mario Balotelli really started to shine and become the player many coaches knew he could be. Two years before he was even old enough to drink in the United States, Mario played a vital role in Inter winning the Treble in 2010 by winning the Scudetto, Coppa Italia and the Champions League. Newly equipped with big money, Manchester City bought Mario from Inter for 21.8 million euros. Mario said that the only reason he went to City was because of Roberto Mancini. Despite having a manager he felt comfortable with, Mario's career started to spiral out of control. The British media started to see this and were instantly all over party boy Mario. There are hundreds of rumors of things Mario did while in England, but he has said most of them are false and made up. From lighting fireworks in his bathroom to getting in a physical argument with Mancini, Mario's time in Manchester was mostly in turmoil. However, despite these incidents, Mario performed well and continued to give Italians hope that he can be a great player for the Azzurri. In 2012, on one of the most ridiculous days in football, Mario fell down to poke the ball to teammate, Sergio Aguero, who scored the goal that would win Manchester City their first Premier League title in 44 years. The run of good fortune continued for Mario with the Azzurri. In the Euros, Mario was one of the most clinical and phenomenal players for not just Italy, but in the entire tournament as well. Italy was put in the same group as defending World and European champions Spain, alongside Croatia and Ireland. Italy and Spain were clear favorites to get out of the group stage, but the world was watching with intent eyes on which would win the group. It was Mario's first major international tournament and it was the perfect opportunity to show just how good he was. He did that and more. Mario scored a spectacular over-the-head goal against Ireland to secure Italy's spot in the quarter-finals against England. Versus England, Mario did what he did best and scored a PK against, then teammate, Joe Hart, to help Italy into the semi-final against international giants, Germany. Germany were the favorites in this match and heavily eyed on to win the tournament. However, everyone knew it would be a very good match as Italy showed they were back to their usual ways and also how Italian teams tend to have the Germans number. It was the case that night as Mario single-handedly took the Germans down with two incredible goals. His iconic flexing of the muscles celebration came from his absolute rocket into the upper 90 to put Italy up 2-0 and seal the game up to jump into the Final against Spain. Italy went on to lose by a big scoreline of 4-0 to Spain in the Final, but Italians were extremely happy with not only the team's performance, but also with what Mario Balotelli showed he can do. Unfortunately, even with his great performances with the national team, Mario saw little time with City the following season. This led to wide speculation as if Mario might be sold and after his incident with Mancini at the training ground, it was clear: Mario had to go. On January 29, 2013, Adriano Galliani pulled the trigger and brought Mario to AC Milan for 25 million euros.
