Mario Balotelli: United v City for £25M Inter Teenage Striking Sensation

Manchester City and Manchester United are reportedly leading a host of clubs in the chase for one of Serie A’s young sensations, the 19-year-old Inter striker Mario Balotelli. West Ham were strongly linked with a loan move last season when Gianfranco Zola admitted, “I have done everything I can to sign Mario and it would be in both our interests and his.” However, it would seem that is now a straight race between Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson for the volatile teenager’s signature.

The youngster of Ghanaian descent was born in Palermo and broke into Serie C1 side Lurnezzane at the tender age of 15. He made 2 League appearances for the club until some of the biggest clubs in Europe moved in for him including Manchester United, Barcelona and Fiorentina. However, it was Milan giants Inter that won his much sought after signature. However, after falling out with Jose Mourinho over a lack of first team football as well as the Inter fans for professing his love for rivals AC, Balotelli may well leave the San Siro with Eastlands or Old Trafford the likeliest destinations.

The striker was signed on a 3-year deal which is the longest contract a youth team player can have in Italy. Balotelli made his first team debut for Inter in December 2007 as a last minute substitute. However, just 3 days later he scored 2 goals on his full debut in the Coppa Italia. His league record for the club is 20 goals in 59 league appearances but he has only started 35 matches. The youngster has now won three Serie A title medals.. Last season Balotelli played 26 times in Serie A for Jose Mourinho and scored 9 times (13 starts).

He’s continually being linked to a move to the Premier League with Chelsea also previously showing an interest. His record for one of the biggest clubs in the world makes him a huge target for Manchester United where Sir Alex Ferguson is looking to strengthen his front line. The fact that Balotelli has a reputation for being outspoken will not bother the Scot who likes to work with characters if their ability backs it up, which the Italian’s certainly does. Roberto Mancini has worked with the youngster firsthand and is keen to bring him to Eastlands as Man City continue to spend.

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Despite his tender years the striker had openly spoken of his disappointment of not playing more games and his desire to leave the club which angered former coach Mourinho. This is not the sort of attitude that Rafael Benitez will want so it is no wonder Balotelli is on the market. The sale will fund a move for Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano with Manchester City in the driving seat in terms of finances but Manchester United reportedly is the player’s preferred choice if they can afford his fee. A combination of Wayne Rooney and Balotelli would take some stopping as both are young, powerful and skilful. Alternatively, he would provide great competition for Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez at Eastlands.

The starlet has stated his ambition to play for Italy and has rejected the overtures from Ghana’s national team. Due to the fact his adoption was never finalised as a child he was not able to gain Italian citizenship for a number of years which meant he missed out on playing for the Italians at youth level. However, he soon was called into Pierluigi Casiraghi’s U21 squad and scored twice in their 3-1 Euro qualifying win over Israel to seal their qualification to the finals in Sweden last summer. However, he has yet to break into the senior side despite their poor showing in South Africa. A high profile move where Balotelli would play more first team football is likely to propel him into the national team so Manchester United is likely to be his preferred choice with less competition up front. Also the fact that the Red Devils are in the Champions League will surely appeal as the player looks to carve out a reputation for himself in his own right.

Balotelli is already renowned as one of the most exciting young talents in European football and was tipped to act as a makeweight in the Italian side’s chase for Frank Lampard last summer. At 6 ft 2 and in the Micah Richards mould in terms of physique he would have the physical attributes to succeed in England. His future has been the subject of much speculation after he reportedly asked for assurances that he would be guaranteed first team football despite being 18 and playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world so he’s not low on confidence. To play for a club of Manchester United’s status, you have to have self-belief and Balotelli has that in abundance. He would not be overawed by having to compete with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov or alternatively Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor whatever price-tag he moves for.

It would seem that ‘Super Mario’ will be making a move to Manchester but whether it is to Eastlands or Old Trafford remains in question. The player’s agent Mino Raiola has quashed talk that a deal is almost finalised when he told tuttomercatoweb.com, “Today there will be no developments.”

“I don’t think the situation will be solved this evening. The (transfer) figures? No comment.”

Whether he goes to Manchester United or Manchester City, expect to hear a whole lot more about Mario Balotelli for many years.

Tags: Inter Milan, Italy, Manchester City, Manchester United, Mario Balotelli

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 13:45 and is filed under Features, Home Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.