And so it ends, the Mario Balotelli circus at Manchester City has finally reached a conclusion, with the Italian, after constant speculation, leaving for a return to Milan, this time with his former side Inter's arch rivals AC. Speculation about a return to Italy has continued throughout his hugely controversial spell, yet talk of his future has heightened in the last few weeks, and finally it would seem there has been a resolution, despite City's refusal to comment on a deal that Milan seem to be confident of completing.
And this move certainly draws the curtain on a tremendous soap opera; the story of a player seemingly so full of talent and potential, yet void of any maturity or professionalism, a factor that has outshone any positive moments in a sky blue shirt. For every 'why always me' moment after scoring in an emphatic 6-1 at Old Trafford, there was a moment of red-mist, with red cards aplenty and a poor disciplinary record overall. Yet every time, his manager Roberto Mancini remained behind his player, showing the faith that lead to City rescuing him from his ill-fated relationship with former Inter manager Jose Mourinho in a £20m move in August 2010.
Yet despite having all the support and understanding a manager could ever give, Balotelli has continually thrown it back in the face of his father figure Mancini, with the pair fighting in training only a few weeks ago, perhaps the final nail in the coffin of his career at Eastlands. After a fantastic set of performances in the colours of Italy at Euro 2012, a ground-breaking season was sure to follow, with City looking to build on their first Premiership title. The truth however, is that 'Super Mario' has barely figured, lurking in the shadows of his fellow forwards Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko.
City haven't been devastating this season; they have yet to show the kind of scintillating form of last season, and Balotelli, who has had to appear fleetingly in the first team, has not shown the attitude or aptitude to galvanise the side and create moments of magic in order to turn things around. His attitude, quite frankly, has been diabolical both on and off the field, and instead of making goalscoring headlines, he has found both the front and back pages for all the wrong reasons with incident after incident that have been an embarrassment to both himself and his club.
Sadly, for City fans, they will never see the supposed magic that the sulky Italian possesses, yet in the long run they will be better off without him. He is a divisive character; aloof and with his own agenda, attributes that a team can sooner do without. As long as City have such characters their form will suffer, and this lack of togetherness has been the difference between themselves and their nemeses Manchester United.
Ability is nothing without a good attitude in any walk of life, and despite brief glimpses and moments that have left City fans adoring the Italian, talk of him as a 'maverick' or a modern day Cantona are so wide of the mark it's not true, simply because when the chips are down Balotelli disappears, and he is too reliant on players around him, never having the ability or the mindfulness to try and turn a game on its head.
Some see him as entertaining, I instead consider him to be a joke of a player, a constant travelling circus constantly courting controversy and personal accolades. How he can compare himself with Messi and Ronaldo is beyond me, because the pair are light-years ahead of him, both in terms of ability and their attitudes.
He came, he won the league and now he will leaving our television screens, hopefully for good because he is a waste of time and space and it beggers belief why Mancini has shown so much faith in a player who has continually let both himself and his team down.
