Balotelli agrees move to Milan

[Chrispy]

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has agreed to a four-and-a-half year deal at AC Milan.

Balotelli - who has reportedly already flown to Italy - will have a medical on Wednesday and provided there are no problems he will join AC Milan, the city rivals of the striker's former club Inter.

AC Milan director Umberto Gandini confirmed that the transfer fee has been agreed with Manchester City and once the medical is completed, the striker will sign a contract which keeps him at the club until 2017.

City had also been negotiating with Juventus, but AC Milan have it seems won the bidding after protracted haggling over the size of the fee.
Sources in Italy say the deal has been done though City insiders are denying this.

The deal, provided it goes through, will bring to an end Balotelli's rollercoaster ride at the Etihad.
Balotelli famously provided the crucial injury-time pass that set up Sergio Aguero for the dramatic Premier Leaguetitle-winning goal against QPR last May.

That memorable afternoon came just five weeks after City boss Roberto Mancini said Balotelli would never play for City again after the striker was sent off at Arsenal.

Lapses in professionalism have been a characteristic of Balotelli's time with the Blues.
There have been numerous training ground bust-ups; only recently he had to be separated from his manager after he lunged in on Scott Sinclair.

Mancini has - for the most part - stood by the Italy international, who shone for his country in Euro 2012.
This season though he has barely featured, making just two substitute appearances since a dreadful performance against Manchester United at the beginning of December.

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/...-city-012913?pk_campaign=facebook&pk_kwd=gesm

 

[kyhadley]

thesun

booooooooooo

 

[Anthony]

 

[1ke]

In all fairness, lol I did see Fox Soccer saying he was in talks to join Milan too. We shall know soon enough. If so though, thats damn good business getting 24 for him.

 

[Chrispy]

Just trying to create threads :dd:

 

[kyhadley]

Just trying to create threads :dd:

Create them only when the source is BBC, Sky, or the Guardian please.:hazard:

 

[Anthony]

Create them only when the source is BBC, Sky, or the Guardian please.:hazard:

These days Sky isn't much better.

 

[kyhadley]

These days Sky isn't much better.

True. The Guardian is always my confirmation check for news. BBC is usually okay.

DM, mirror, and sun I completely disregard any news from. Even if they get some right, even a blind squirrel will find a nut every once in a while.

 

[Rudi]

Yeah not sure this is actually happening :balotelli:

 

[kyhadley]

Might be something to it.

Mario Balotelli's Manchester City future could be decided this week, with talks expected between the champions and Milan on Monday. City are said to want £31m for the striker but the fee may end up nearer to the £24m he cost them from Internazionale in the summer of 2010.

Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president, has told Gazzetta dello Sport: "At the end of Friday, Manchester City still said €37m. We will see on Monday. Under these conditions, he will remain at Manchester City."

While neither City nor the Balotelli camp would comment on the claim, Galliani's statement can be considered a bargaining move as the transfer window enters its final few days. If the clubs fail to agree a price, there is an outside chance of a loan move which would see the striker at San Siro for the remainder of the season.

Previously, the 22-year-old had wanted to stay at City due to respect for Roberto Mancini, the manager, and his continued support, though there is now a recognition that a departure may be the only way for Balotelli to try and rebuild his career.

His time at the club has been troubled, with a catalogue of on- and off-field misdemeanours blighting progress. Mancini eventually became isolated in his support of a compatriot who was an asset in Italy's Euro 2012 campaign, where they reached the final.

Balotelli's commitment has also been questionable, with Mancini being forced to stand him down from the match-day squad at least twice due to problems with his attitude in training. There have been only seven starts in the Premier League and one goal – in a 2-0 win at Wigan in November – and last month Balotelli came close to taking City to a tribunal after refusing to accept a two-week fine for the ill-discipline that meant he missed 11 games due to suspension last term.

The striker only called off the tribunal on the morning and finally accepted the £340,000 fine. But a fortnight later he was pictured grappling with Mancini on the training ground after the manager tried to censure him for a dangerous tackle on Scott Sinclair.

With ongoing concern regarding who he surrounds himself with in his private life, this was the act that finally caused Mancini to accept he should be moved on.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/20/mario-balotelli-manchester-city-milan

 

[Bigpapa42]

Its definitely a possible deal. I don't think anyone would be surprised if Balotelli had burned through all his chances with City and Milan are by far the most likely landing spot for him back in Italy. But I will wait til there's something of substance being reported by a decent source...

 

[Chrispy]

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has agreed to a four-and-a-half year deal at AC Milan.

Balotelli - who has reportedly already flown to Italy - will have a medical on Wednesday and provided there are no problems he will join AC Milan, the city rivals of the striker's former club Inter.

AC Milan director Umberto Gandini confirmed that the transfer fee has been agreed with Manchester City and once the medical is completed, the striker will sign a contract which keeps him at the club until 2017.

City had also been negotiating with Juventus, but AC Milan have it seems won the bidding after protracted haggling over the size of the fee.
Sources in Italy say the deal has been done though City insiders are denying this.

The deal, provided it goes through, will bring to an end Balotelli's rollercoaster ride at the Etihad.
Balotelli famously provided the crucial injury-time pass that set up Sergio Aguero for the dramatic Premier Leaguetitle-winning goal against QPR last May.

That memorable afternoon came just five weeks after City boss Roberto Mancini said Balotelli would never play for City again after the striker was sent off at Arsenal.

Lapses in professionalism have been a characteristic of Balotelli's time with the Blues.
There have been numerous training ground bust-ups; only recently he had to be separated from his manager after he lunged in on Scott Sinclair.

Mancini has - for the most part - stood by the Italy international, who shone for his country in Euro 2012.
This season though he has barely featured, making just two substitute appearances since a dreadful performance against Manchester United at the beginning of December.

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/...-city-012913?pk_campaign=facebook&pk_kwd=gesm

 

[seaplus]

best of luck to you sir

 

[Champ]

Hopefully this has nothing to do with Cavani.

 

[Rudi]

 

[calgaryballer]

My buddy is going bananas. He loves it. I'm not sold Allegri can handle him but it will be fun

 

[1ke]

:shotsfired:

Lost money on the deal too if the 17 mil is true. Balo gone, Tevz rejected a new deal, and Kun too big for that club. Its all beginning....... *evil laugh*

Serious though, I loved him at Internazionale, hated him because of where he signed, Im just glad I can start to enjoy him again now! Milan, watch out, Mr Barwuah is coming to paint the town red.

 

[TheImmortalGoud]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1328650/milan-exec-uses-racist-slur-in-describing-balotelli?cc=5901

AC Milan vice president Paolo Berlusconi used a racist slur to describe newly acquired forward Mario Balotelli during public remarks at a political forum in Italy.

Berlusconi, younger brother of the club president Silvio, described Balotelli, who is black, as "n------- di famiglia," an Italian slur meaning "the family's little n-----."

The utterance came at a political meeting in Monza near Milan and was caught on film by local reporters and is being shown on the website of Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

It has already caused outrage in Italy, especially after Milan's midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng won plaudits from Berlusconi senior for walking off the pitch after being racially abused during a friendly in early January.

Paolo Berlusconi was attending a rally for a candidate for his brother's right-wing People of Freedom party when he made the comments.

He said: "Okay, we are all off to see the family's little n-----. He's a crazy head. All the young ladies are invited as well -- you can even have a chance to meet the president (Silvio Berlusconi)."

Italy international Balotelli joined AC Milan from Manchester City on transfer deadline day last week and scored twice on his debut against Udinese on Sunday.

 

[chazmaniandevil]

this is being taken out of context, it has a different meaning in the italian language

"It is absolutely not the equivalent of "nigger" - no where close in fact. "Nigger" is an aggressively racist term in English. It is brutal and as loud as a gun shot. There is no room for debate about intention in English when "nigger" is said. He did not say that.
However, what he said is not a colloquialism nor is it a harmless little sobriquet either. A broad equivalent would be an English person saying "Paddy" or "Mick" in reference to an Irish person (though I may be misinterpreting the level of offence in this too). It is pointed and disdainful, condescending and ignorant, and absolutely not a neutral term.
It isn't overtly hateful, but it is undoubtedly quite racist. One can ascribe a certain amount of casualness and unguardedness to the comment that does relieve it of some of the offensiveness but the case could be made, and probably should be made, that casual and unthinking comments of that nature is what prejudice and hatred feed thrive on and make the more overtly repulsive forms of racism so much more difficult to combat.
The man is a crook and a bigot and Italy and the world would be better off without all of them. They are a joke and a source of comedy for many people. But they are much more destructive than that."

from reddit, basically theres a slight undertone of disrespect, as this family that is the part owner of milan have known to be bigots, and everyone in italy is aware, but its not as bad as everyone is making it out to be

 

[Rudi]

I figured the translation was a little bit extreme. Couldn't imagine him actually coming out and saying those exact words.