Balotelli is one of the great entertainers in European football at the moment, both on and off the pitch.

His antics away from the field may have made him a cult hero, but the Italian’s brilliance, which seems to be becoming more occasional, is often overlooked by the critics of his attitude.

Unfortunately for Mario, his image in England has been tarnished with the repeated publication of his negativities and rarely looking at the excellence he can bring to a team when he is managed properly.

Obviously, managing the Italian is one of the great challenges of modern football. However, the way that he has been dealt with by Brendan Rodgers was pretty shambolic from day one.

Admitting that his signing was a risk was never a good start for the Liverpool manager and its hardly a surprise it has been so rapidly downhill from there onwards. Liverpool fans might still be largely split on the issue, but it feels like the striker is yet to be given a fair opportunity to demonstrate what he can do at Liverpool, and when he was, it was in a massively underperforming side.

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Even in some of the troubled times, when Balotelli was with AC Milan, there were glimpses of the wonderful centre forward that burst onto the scene under Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan and played an important role in Manchester City’s league win in 2012. As Milan struggled, Balotelli’s attitude was, as ever, not the best, but his talent shone through in a squad that looked a shadow of what the fans at the San Siro are used to.

Before his time with AC Milan, the ex-Inter man had a turbulent spell at Manchester City where he regularly fell out with Roberto Mancini. Often over publicised, Balotelli produced some quality performances for the blue half of Manchester and an iconic goal in the 6-1 drubbing of Manchester United will go down as one of the all-time memorable Premier League moments.

The quality was, yet again, on show for all to see and managers seem all too willing to give up on Balotelli considering the wonderful potential he has shown.

As much as Rodgers, Mancini made several errors in his man management of the enigmatic Italian and clubs were too eager to clamp down on his ‘misdemeanours’ outside of club time. Fireworks in your bathroom might be an unorthodox use of time, but it should not be seen as a judgement of an immensely talented individual.

Whether his time at Liverpool is about to come to an end or not, several others clubs should be eyeing up the Italian.

His powerful game, coupled with his excellent technique to link-up the play from midfield to attack is still of great use. Sides need to work to get people close to Balotelli if he is to be used as a lone front man and Liverpool failed to do that all too often last season.

Balotelli is still young enough to reach his world-class potential and his price is likely to be affordable for the majority of the Premier League. If a manager backs his own man management he should take another punt on Mario, who could turn out to be the bargain of the summer.

Balotelli seems to be a player who needs to feel valued at a club and if a manager can get him performing regularly, he will be one of the biggest threats to any defence.

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