Tuesday 25 August 2015 18:46, UK
Mario Balotelli was a pet project for Brendan Rodgers but even he had to admit defeat, writes Adam Bate...
Plenty of people scoffed at the thought of David Beckham studies being a university module, but working out what makes Mario Balotelli tick really could be something worth investigating. And yet, Jamie Carragher is just one of those wondering why anyone would bother.
"Where's the quality? Where's the evidence of the quality? I must be blind," Carragher told Monday Night Football while discussing Balotelli's imminent loan move to AC Milan.
Where's the evidence of the quality? I must be blind.
"The Balotelli one was a major mistake, not just from Brendan Rodgers but the whole club and the transfer committee in bringing him in. I still can't believe they signed him. He's kidding some coaches if he gets a move back to AC Milan."
The story of Balotelli's time at Liverpool is indeed a tale of two men. Rodgers invested his time and reputation in the controversial striker. Carragher mentions the much-maligned transfer committee but Rodgers was more than complicit. This was his pet project.
When I lost Suarez, I lost a wee bit of what I've had all my life, people who were written off and I felt I needed something like that, for me.
"When I lost Suarez," Rodgers told Michael Calvin in Living on the Volcano, "I lost a wee bit of what I've had all my life, people who were written off and I felt I needed something like that, for me." As a result, he was willing to ignore the warning signs.
"I loved Suarez because he challenged me," he added. "I'd also speak to him about other issues to do with his life. That's why Balotelli and I speak every day… You can't treat him like everybody else." Here was a player who appealed to Rodgers, the "welfare officer".
The two men spent three-and-a-half hours together in the manager's office discussing Rodgers' CORE principles – commitment, ownership, responsibility and excellence.
The purpose is to sell himself and the club, getting that oft-discussed 'buy-in' from the player in the process. Such is Rodgers' hubris that it seems he was the only one in the room truly believing what was being sold. Balotelli's move to Milan means those efforts were in vain.
Where Rodgers' faith was surely misplaced was in believing that Balotelli was in any way comparable to Luis Suarez in the first place. While the Uruguayan's issues manifested themselves in being too competitive for his own good, Balotelli's problems had quite the opposite effect.
"It's impossible to do what he does on a football pitch," Gary Neville told Sky Sports. "He doesn't work hard enough, particularly if you're going to play one up front. Balotelli doesn't move… There isn't a great deal of evidence that he is going to change."
There isn't a great deal of evidence that he is going to change.
Rodgers' failure would seem to confirm that and represents perhaps the biggest indictment on Balotelli yet. Roberto Mancini can be temperamental. Jose Mourinho is a tough judge. But here was a patient coach desperate to help. And yet, the returns continue to diminish.
Indeed, for all the criticism, Balotelli had actually reached double figures in each of the six seasons prior to his arrival at Liverpool. But he leaves after the worst year of his career – one that yielded only four goals with just one coming in the Premier League.
Only the anecdotes kept flowing. Some were humorous, others faintly sad. The Guardian's Daniel Taylor recounts a tale of Balotelli in training, lashing the ball past his own goalkeeper from 40 yards. Ex-Inter colleague Desmond N'Ze took to sleeping in Balotelli's Ferrari in the car park.
Liverpool's Jose Enrique accused Rodgers of leaving him, Balotelli and Fabio Borini feeling "alienated" at Melwood, but is it any wonder why he would give up? Carragher and others will question the initial decision but the Liverpool boss should at least be credited with limiting his losses.
Rodgers is rarely associated with such ruthlessness but it's a trait he has shown time and again. The lesson was learned after being sacked by Reading back in 2009. "I need to be more clinical," Rodgers told Calvin.
"I need to get to the decision quicker because this isn't development now. This is what can happen – you can lose your job. So now, instead of giving them 10 games, as you would in youth development, I might only give them two or three if they're not performing.
"I'll help them, support them in other ways, but they may have to come out. That was the difference. I became more clinical, in terms of the decision, in terms of the team." Belatedly, Rodgers reached the only conclusion he could.
"Too many managers have had him now," said Neville, and the evidence is there. Mancini fought with Balotelli like family but couldn't make it work. Mourinho, the great man-manager, called him "unmanageable". Now the welfare officer has withdrawn his benefits. Sadly, but inevitably, time is up for Mario Balotelli.
