Mario Balotelli turned down lucrative move to remain with Nice

Italian striker Mario Balotelli turned down a big-money move to the Chinese Super league to remain in France for the 2018-19 season.

Balotelli has plied his trade in Ligue 1 for two years now and has been a big success, scoring 42 goals in 64 appearances for Nice. The 28-year-old has enjoyed something of a career revival during his time in France, after ill-fated spells with Liverpool in England and Italian giant’s AC Milan.

Many experts believed that Balotelli’s best years were behind him after scoring just 4 goals whilst at Anfield, an opinion which was only enhanced by his record of 3 goals in 23 appearances at the San Siro – where he was sent on loan for his second spell at the club.

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The Italian star has always been a flawed talent, capable of producing dazzling moments of individual brilliance, but equally capable of self-destructing to either cost his team games or alienate his colleagues and supporters.

Looking back on his goalscoring record prior to arriving on Merseyside, the divisive forward would always force his detractors into silence by hitting the back of the net on a regular basis. At Manchester City, he managed to score 30 goals in 80 appearances during a 3 year-spell which wasn’t a bad return at all considering he was often used from the bench by then manager Roberto Mancini.

He was sold to Milan in 2013 for £19 million – as per BBC Sport – and once again managed to prove himself as a deadly force upfront, scoring 28 goals in just 51 appearances for the club. His performances during his first year at the San Siro earned him his move back to England with Liverpool, but for whatever reason, he never managed to settle in at Anfield.

After a 4-year absence, Balotelli also only recently returned to action with Italy and he may still harbour hopes of having an impact on the international stage again if his latest career decision is anything to go by. According to ESPN, the former Man City hitman turned down the chance to move to the Chinese Super League this summer, a competition which is associated with lucrative wage packets for players.

“We have a player who has been courted, and contrary to what has been said, there have been some very big offers, notably from China and I have rarely seen such a contract for a player,” Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere told French publication RMC, as ESPN reports. “Mario turned it down straight away because he’s interested in the sporting challenge.”

Hulk, Nicolas Gaitan, Oscar, Ramires and Jackson Martinez are just a few of the high profile names to make the switch to China over the last decade, motivated by money rather than personal success or their professional reputation.

The fact that Balotelli has turned down such an offer speaks volumes about the ambition still burning brightly inside him as he looks forward. If he goes on to have another stellar year with Nice, then who knows who might come calling next summer, especially given the fact that high quality old fashioned centre-forwards are something of a dying breed in modern football.

He could continue his comeback with Italy too and supporters won’t have forgotten what he can offer his country when he is in full flow. His performance in the semi-finals of the European Championships is perhaps the highlight of his entire career to date – when he scored a fantastic brace against Germany to send the Gli Azzurri into the final.

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Balotelli has already left his mark on European football with his unique talent and controversial character and now that he has decided to continue his journey in this part of the world, we can all look forward to more memorable moments from the Italian superstar.

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