Liverpool's recent £16,000,000 signing of ex Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has provoked some discussion to whether this is a bargain or a desperate buy. The Italian bad boy never really made his mark at Manchester City and a combination of this and his off field antics eventually got him sold to AC Milan. But Liverpool have brought him back to the Premier League and time will only tell whether they made the right choice.
On the side of bargain Mario Balotelli netted 14 times in Serie A last season and at 24 years old he still has time to mature and become a world class striker. He has already played 33 times for his national side, Italy, and has scored 13 goals in that time and has been to a World Cup and European championships. His goals helped Italy reach the final of the European Championships most notably striking twice to beat Germany in the semi-finals. Balotelli's price tag is especially remarkable as earlier this summer Southampton paid £12,000,000 for Shane Long and Fulham paid £11,000,000 for Ross McCormack. So for a few million more you could buy a striker who has had plenty of Champions League experience which will help in Liverpool's European pursuits this season.
On the side of waste Balotelli can be a destructive influence in the dressing room. His work ethic leaves a lot to be desired especially with Liverpool's tactics of high pressing and working hard to win the ball back. This may not work if one member of the team, Balotelli, doesn't pull his weight and work hard to win the ball back. The Italian is infamous for his off field antics, true or not this won't help keep togetherness in the dressing room if Balotelli goes out and creates a headline for the wrong reasons and then gets picked ahead of somebody who worked hard all week and did nothing wrong. This player will get angry at the injustice of this and start thinking of going elsewhere. At the end of his stay in Manchester Balotelli's name was popping up all over the newspapers with lots of ridiculous stories that, even though most of the stories were false, they helped knock him off his game and shifted his attention from where it should have been and his performances went down the drain. Balotelli is wasteful in front of goal. He may have scored 14 times for AC Milan last season but he had the lowest shot conversion rate of any player to score more than 10 goals in Europe, 8.3%.
In my opinion Balotelli will be a great signing for Liverpool and will help them compete across the board, as long as he keeps his head down and works for Rodgers and the team.
On the side of bargain Mario Balotelli netted 14 times in Serie A last season and at 24 years old he still has time to mature and become a world class striker. He has already played 33 times for his national side, Italy, and has scored 13 goals in that time and has been to a World Cup and European championships. His goals helped Italy reach the final of the European Championships most notably striking twice to beat Germany in the semi-finals. Balotelli's price tag is especially remarkable as earlier this summer Southampton paid £12,000,000 for Shane Long and Fulham paid £11,000,000 for Ross McCormack. So for a few million more you could buy a striker who has had plenty of Champions League experience which will help in Liverpool's European pursuits this season.
On the side of waste Balotelli can be a destructive influence in the dressing room. His work ethic leaves a lot to be desired especially with Liverpool's tactics of high pressing and working hard to win the ball back. This may not work if one member of the team, Balotelli, doesn't pull his weight and work hard to win the ball back. The Italian is infamous for his off field antics, true or not this won't help keep togetherness in the dressing room if Balotelli goes out and creates a headline for the wrong reasons and then gets picked ahead of somebody who worked hard all week and did nothing wrong. This player will get angry at the injustice of this and start thinking of going elsewhere. At the end of his stay in Manchester Balotelli's name was popping up all over the newspapers with lots of ridiculous stories that, even though most of the stories were false, they helped knock him off his game and shifted his attention from where it should have been and his performances went down the drain. Balotelli is wasteful in front of goal. He may have scored 14 times for AC Milan last season but he had the lowest shot conversion rate of any player to score more than 10 goals in Europe, 8.3%.
In my opinion Balotelli will be a great signing for Liverpool and will help them compete across the board, as long as he keeps his head down and works for Rodgers and the team.