MARIO BALOTELLI was such a notorious troublemaker at Manchester City that the club would have fined him over £100,000 by Christmas.
Former defender Micah Richards has revealed how the Italian forward would often get punished for missing meetings, simply because he was “dozy”.
Richards was a reluctant assistant to enforcer Vincent KompanyCredit: BBC / Richard Pelham – The Sun
After Chelsea’s fine sheet was leaked online, the ex-England defender gave his take on Frank Lampard’s rule of law which would have certainly tripped up Balotelli.
He told 5 Live: “£20,000 late for the starting of training – that is a lot. But everything else seems to be in sync.
“But Balotelli was always late.
“We used to give all of our money to charities so by Christmas time we’d have £100,000 or £150,000 in there just from Balotelli.
“He would be in the building. Say we had a meeting upstairs – he’d just be downstairs relaxing. He’d come to the meeting but he was just a bit dozy.”
FIRE MARIO
Balotelli best summed up his stay in Manchester with his “Why Always Me” celebration in the October 2011 derby at Old Trafford.
On the eve of the match, the Italian’s bathroom was set on fire when he and friends let off fireworks in the early hours of the morning.
Brescia star Balotelli later claimed it was a friend who set off the offending pyrotechnic and he later became an ambassador for a Bonfire Night safety campaign.
Keeping an eye on things during this time at City was Vincent Kompany, who Richards remembers was like a “headmaster”.
The former right-back recalled: “Kompany, he’s busy isn’t he? He just looks like that person anyway.
“He always kept a track of the fines and because I was sort of vice-captain, one of the leaders in the dressing room, he’d tell me to take charge of it.
“But I’m not going to say to the manager ‘Oh player was late today, oh player didn’t put his bib in the washing machine’. I’m not going to do that.
“So it was only if Vincent Kompany caught you, so the lads were avoiding him. I’m not a snitch!”
A product of the Eastlands academy, Richards was deployed as Kompany’s reluctant assistant in enforcing players’ disicipline.
He added: “You could appeal it as well. You had to go with Kompany into the manager’s office.
“He had a fine sheet logged of all the fines. He was like a schoolteacher, a headmaster. One of those guys that when you see him, you just turn the other way.”
“I tried to be friends with everyone.
“I told [Balotelli]: ‘I’m going to let you off today…’ but with Balotelli it was like every other week.
“I could only do so much – then Kompany’s looking over my shoulder, it undermined a little bit…”
Maverick forward Mario Balotelli says his ‘mum cried’ after signing for Serie A side Brescia
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
