According to the latest reports, Mario Balotelli is on the verge of joining Marseille from Nice in Ligue 1. Despite the timing being pretty perfect to join Major League Soccer, it’s not happening. We’re just as disappointed as you are.
With Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Balotelli all in MLS, we could’ve replayed our own version of Euro 2012.
After scoring 43 goals for Nice in his first two seasons there, Balotelli’s form disappeared with the arrival of former NYCFC manager Patrick Vieira. The 28-year-old striker hasn’t scored in 10 appearances this season, and Vieira admitted that he wanted to “slam (Balotelli) up against the wall or leave him hanging by his collar on the coat rack.”
Football Italia reported that Balotelli had smashed up the locker room after being subbed off against Nimes earlier in the season and walked out on a Vieira team talk during a 0-0 draw with Guingamp.
Mario Balotelli'nin Nimes maçında ilginç anları pic.twitter.com/NLxFZsNBRG
— Sporxtv (@sporxtv) November 12, 2018
Balotelli was not included in the 18 for Wednesday's match against Monaco, and both the BBC and Sky Sports say the Italian will now join Marseille. Nice is currently sixth in the table; Marseille sits ninth.
Here’s a video of Balotelli training earlier Wednesday with personal coach Stefano Brasetti, whose Instagram handle is “theuntraditionalcoach” — just look at the untraditional work they’re putting in on the mini trampoline here.
We’re not entirely sure if Balotelli’s looking sharp or not. We’re not sure what’s going on at all.