Balotelli: Stay or Go?

There is no doubt Balotelli is one of the best young players in world football. He is incredibly talented at such a young age and can be a starter for any team in the world. He has pace, strength, good dribbling ability, is a strong finisher, has a powerful shot and is a reasonable free kick taker. He is also Italian and an Inter Milan youth product, which not only benefits us in terms of meeting the Champions League registration requirements, but also gives us a sense of national and team pride, something which we have been lacking in recent years due to the low amount of Italian players and Inter youth products. There is something very satisfying when a promising yet quality youth player comes into the first team. I can imagine it being a similar feeling to that a parent feels watching their offspring develop and become successful. You feel that particular sense pride which is stronger than in most instances, accompanied with a great desire for them to do well.

Yet it is precisely for that reason me, and the majority if not all Inter fans, feel let down and angry at Balotelli for his actions throughout this season, with his actions after the first leg of the Champions League semi final against Barcelona seemingly being the straw that broke the camel’s back. He is one of our own youth products, grown and nurtured by us due to the time and money invested in his development, so his recent actions really do feel like he has bitten the hand that fed him. Whether he becomes a footballing superstar or not, and if that happens at Inter or another club, we were the club that trained and tried to guide him. We were the club that gave him his big break. We were the club where he made his name. We were the club that stuck up for him when he was abused and when he made some of his mistakes. It is our fans that supported him when the rest of Italy was against him. For the most part we have only behaved in a way with his best intentions at heart, and for that he deserves to respect us for what we have done for him.

Reasons for his stay:

1. He is an Inter Milan youth product. He is a product of our development. He can also help us with our Champions League registration.
2. We have invested a lot of time and money into his development and by selling him now we will not get the benefits of such investments.
3. He is extremely talented and has the potential to become one of, if not the best player in the world, and I want that to happen in our team.

Reasons for us to sell him:

1. He has disrespected our team and in turn everything we have done for him on more than one occasion.
2. He brings unnecessary negative media attention which can upset the team.
3. He has a huge ego for a player of his age, experience and statue.
4. He does not listen to his team mates.
5. He does not listen to his manager.
6. He has stated his affection for our rival team Milan on more than one occasion, including the infamous shirt wearing incident.
7. He does not do what is asked of him no the pitch, such as tracking back and defending, which has at times reduced us to nine and a half men because he is only doing half his job and another team mate has to stop doing their job to tell him what to do.
8. He has released statements claiming that he does not really want to play for us, again despite everything we have done for him.
9. His agent, Mino Raiola, seems to be creating tension between his client and our club, which appears to be a way of orchestrating a move away from our club as this is a similar pattern of events to those which led up to Ibrahimovic’s departure last summer, who is another one of Raiola’s clients.
10. The Inter fans are against him and when the Inter faithful turn there backs on a player they make it very difficult for them to continue playing for us much longer. Our fans turned on Christian Vieri after he stopped celebrating scoring goals, despite him scoring 103 goals in 143 games during his Inter career, and at the end of the season he was sold.

Do I think he should stay or be sold? That is not my decision. However, if it was I would be inclined to sell him, only if we can sign a quality player in return, by which I mean one of Aguero, Cassano, Tevez, Van Persie or Benzema. I do not see the point in selling him a player if we cannot sign a player of the same or better standard to replace him.

I feel Balotelli has gone too far with his disrespectful actions. The booing and anger from our own fans towards him will not only make it difficult for him to perform, but it is also likely to negatively affect our other players, and the performance and concentration of our team cannot be jeopardised.

Furthermore, he still does not seem to be listening to Mourinho. Mourinho has told him time and time again what he needs to do to improve, but he still has not learnt. He still does not track back and defend, which shows he does not work for the team which makes our job a lot harder. Milito ran all he could in the first leg against Barcelona to the extent where he got cramp and physically could not run anymore. When Balotelli came on he lost possession and failed to track back and try and regain possession. This has happened numerous times throughout his Inter career. One time this season he lost possession and just sat on the ground watching the opposing team run towards our goal. In the second leg against of the Champions League semi final against Barcelona Milito ran his heart out for the entity of his game to put pressure on Barcelona’s defence and midfield, despite the fact that there were no goal scoring opportunities. If Balotelli had started that game there is absolutely no way he would have done the same amount of running, pressure applying, and tracking back that Milito did, and as a result Barcelona would have had more possession and would have stood a far better chance of knocking us out.

If Mourinho, one of the best man managers and motivators in the world, cannot get Balotelli to learn to become a team player then which manager can? I think it is time to give another manager a chance. I do not think Mourinho and Balotelli can work well together at the same club, so if Mourinho stays then I think it would be best if Balotelli leaves. If it comes down to Mourinho vs Balotelli I would choose Mourinho every time.

If Balotelli stays then I will respect Moratti and Mourinho’s decision, but Balotelli is going to have to do an awful lot to convince me, and the rest of the Inter fans, that it was the right decision to keep him and to repay the damage his actions have caused. I will give him a chance to do this, but he has a long way to go to gain our forgiveness.