It’s the crazy and brilliant move of this summer transfer window; OGC Nice has signed Mario Balotelli for one season. Following Hatem Ben Arfa last season, the Nice club is taking another gamble.
Two years ago, or even 6 months ago, no one would have predicted such a transfer. Mario Balotelli, the man with 33 Italian caps (for 13 goals), the man known for his antics of all kinds (throwing darts at the youth team, setting off fireworks in his bathroom…) will indeed be wearing the red and black jersey of the Gym this season.
“We are very happy to welcome Mario,” commented Jean-Pierre Rivère on the club’s official website. We hope that in Nice, in a family atmosphere, he will rediscover the joy of playing. We know, both he and we, that nothing will be simple but with the desire and, I hope, the support of all our fans, we will allow him to thrive and bring all his talent to the service of the team.
We are still a club under construction. Our progress is made step by step. We hope to have a good season with our squad in the various competitions we will have to play.”
Free of charge?
The objective of this summer transfer window was to sign a forward to compete with Alassane Plea, and it’s mission accomplished. Mario Balotelli arrives from Liverpool via a straightforward transfer. According to some sources, he had his contract terminated. The Northern English club was keen to offload him at all costs. His salary, on the other hand, could reach 4 to 4.5 million euros annually (about 350,000€/monthly).
Balotelli arrives on the Côte d’Azur to revive his career after several very complicated seasons. In the last two seasons, he has only scored 7 times in England (28 matches, 4 goals) and Italy (23 matches, 3 goals). This time, he arrives in a championship reputed to be weaker and in a team already performing well (3 matches, 2 wins, 1 draw).
A “problematic” man
However, caution is advised with the demons of the man nicknamed Super Mario. At 26, he has “a record as long as your arm”: showing up at the training center in the rival club’s jersey, setting off fireworks from his bathroom (resulting in a fire on the first floor), car accidents, etc…
The Nice team, led by Jean-Pierre Rivère and Julien Fournier, has made a real coup. There is no doubt that this arrival will be talked about for many weeks in Ligue 1. Notably, within 5 minutes, the club’s official Twitter welcome message had been retweeted more than 6000 times. The “Balotelli madness” grips Nice!
