Mario Balotelli: Page 31 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Mario Balotelli

Gunner89

He's scored about 20 goals from open play in the last 18 months. If you take the penalties and Milan get a lot of those his record is below average. He's finished 6 seasons of regular football with a highest league haul of 14.

Rex

bla, bla, bla. He has 26 goals in 43 matches for AC Milan, and that is an abysmal AC Milan at that. Your words on this subject are just fluff.

goon

Highest league haul of 14 across 6 seasons, highest haul in all competitions of 15, a total of 24 league goals across 6 seasons. No, not Balotelli, this was Cavani's record at 23.

Just because you're not prolific at 23 doesn't mean you've not got goals in you. Just like buying players who've scored goals historically doesn't mean he'll be a goalscorer for you. Balotelli has as much potential to score goals for us as anyone else available out there. People get this from watching him, not regurgitating stats from wiki.

Qwiss

I love the idea that just because Cavani/Ibra/whoever didn't score a lot at Balotellis age it means he'll also definitely score loads if we sign him.

I also don't think the people who are clamouring for him have watched him any more than the people who don't. There are plenty of Milan fans who are fed up of him after watching him all season and want him moved on.

samthegooner

qs! wrote:
I love the idea that just because Cavani/Ibra/whoever didn't score a lot at Balotellis age it means he'll also definitely score loads if we sign him.

I think his point was more along the lines of, just because he's 24 doesn't mean this is the player he is going to be for the rest of his career. Not necessarily saying he would go in that direction but it's also not a certainty that he's reached his peak.

Gunner89

Rex wrote:
bla, bla, bla. He has 26 goals in 43 matches for AC Milan, and that is an abysmal AC Milan at that. Your words on this subject are just fluff.

Blah blah blah he's scored about 15-16 from open play. Im not particularly concerned about his stellar penalty record given we get about a couple of those per season. In the last 2 years he's scored less goals than Giroud, significantly less open-play goals than Giroud and less league goals than Giroud. I don't even like Giroud and I don't like his anonymousness against decent teams but it sure as hell is better than playing with somebody who's essentially a loose cannon. Just in that Emirates game alone he tried two leg-breakers and the ref gave his a few warnings and even then he got sent off. We're not talking about a 5-10m investment here. We're talking about a 30m plus transfer and 100k plus wage for 4-5 years. The more I think about it the more I am sure that a manager like Wenger would certainly not pay out that much for him. My gut feeling is Wenger is looking at one of the big strikers moving and seizing upon the domino effect or else he'll spend on a Remy and add goals out-wide too with maybe Sanchez or Greizmann.

The analogy of Cavani to Balotelli is laughable. QS couldn't have put it better.

Rohit

It isn't. It wasn't about comparing the two individuals but to merely highlight the larger point that beating on about goals scored at his age isn't enough. Your reservations about his mentality are more valid.

A lot of us have seen him and simply basis his qualities believe he is worth every penny we will pay for him. He is a top talent.

To point out goalscoring stats in every thread whether on Giroud or Balotelli is quite tedious.

Segway

Couldn't agree more Gunner89. I don't think there is any striker in the world with the talent of Balotelli. He's the complete package in theory. Great technique and strength coupled with more than decent pace and finishing ability. Trouble is he doesn't look very close to fulfilling that talent. I think it speaks volumes when so many Milan fans want him gone despite being their top scorer. He's so inconsistent and lazy and you just never know what Mario is going to turn up. Give me Benzema over him any day.

Gunner89

Rohit wrote:
It isn't. It wasn't about comparing the two individuals but to merely highlight the larger point that beating on about goals scored at his age isn't enough. Your reservations about his mentality are more valid.

A lot of us have seen him and simply basis his qualities believe he is worth every penny we will pay for him. He is a top talent.

To point out goalscoring stats in every thread whether on Giroud or Balotelli is quite tedious.

It's a strikers thread and maybe you judge strikers on maybe their passes or something.

On the basis of qualities Jose Antonio Reyes is probably one of the talented players on earth so it's just not about having talent.

I don't particularly care for the fact that he might score a goal of the season contender every other month. What I am concerned about is his ability to get goals which is what in my opinion strikers should be judged on.

Rohit

Good on you then. You're obviously the only discerning one here while we give the impression we are judging him on his passing.

Never understood your hostile style of posting so best to avoid and move on I guess.

Burnwinter

I still think Balotelli would be a fine signing for us.

He's got plenty of experience on big stages, enormous talent, and he's still got room to improve. Signing him would strengthen a weak area considerably and boost our morale and our profile. That's about all you get for £25-30m these days.

A cursory glance at his record and his highlights shows he's been fairly prolific in recent times, and they're not all penalties either. I'm not sure how you turn being arguably the world's best penalty taker into a negative anyway! We can definitely make use of dead ball skills.

He's got the quality for the highest level, it'd be down to Wenger to work on his attitude.

Klaus

Burnwinter™ wrote:
A cursory glance at his record and his highlights shows he's been fairly prolific in recent times, and they're not all penalties either. I'm not sure how you turn being arguably the world's best penalty taker into a negative anyway!

The idea is to undermine his record I suppose. I've only seen similar breakdowns when people are on a mission to prove a point. Ronaldo scored 10 penalties last season. No one's talking about it because no one cares. You either put it away or you don't. The argument fails taking into account that Balotelli himself created most of those penalties too, either directly or indirectly. You need to actually watch the performances to notice things like that though, along with other clues about what he might bring to the team. My opinion is that we don't just need goals up front this summer, we need improvement all across the spectrum. The difference between Giroud and Suarez as players is a lot more than just 10-12 goals across a season.

Rohit

It's as if the rest of his football counts for nothing. If we start using absolute stats as the barometer for each player then we won't sign any young talents. His strength, his hold up play, his link up play and ability on the ball counts for nothing because he isn't as prolific as Cavani. I don't quite get it.

There are questions over his mentality which make you wonder if he will ever fulfill his promise but those are the only valid ones.

For me Balotelli can be anything he wants to be, an incredible force, it's only about how much he wants it.

Kel Varnsen

Balotelli is much better than Giroud and that's the most important factor here. I'd prefer Benzema or Cavani, but I'd be happy with Balotelli as well.

goon

Rohit wrote:
It isn't. It wasn't about comparing the two individuals but to merely highlight the larger point that beating on about goals scored at his age isn't enough. Your reservations about his mentality are more valid.

A lot of us have seen him and simply basis his qualities believe he is worth every penny we will pay for him. He is a top talent.

To point out goalscoring stats in every thread whether on Giroud or Balotelli is quite tedious.

Exactly, Thanks Rohit.

Jens

Take this for what its worth, but Per Jarle Heggelund, italian football expert seemed very confident on this deal happening when asked point blank on norwegian telly.

FantasticMrFox

Signing him is a massive risk but there arent too many strikers out there with his talent.

Prandelli on Balotelli: "Picking Balotelli was my mistake. Therefore I resign".

Ouch!

Rohit

Wow, did he really say that?

We may refrain from signing him to avoid his shenanigans, but yeah, not many top quality center forwards around.

Biggus

Fantastic.Mr.Fox wrote:
Signing him is a massive but there arent too many strikers out there with his talent.

Prandelli on Balotelli: "Picking Balotelli was my mistake. Therefore I resign".

Ouch!

DO YOU THINK IT WOULD WORK WITH WENGER??? :o

Rohit

Biggus wrote:
Fantastic.Mr.Fox wrote:
Signing him is a massive but there arent too many strikers out there with his talent.

Prandelli on Balotelli: "Picking Balotelli was my mistake. Therefore I resign".

Ouch!

DO YOU THINK IT WOULD WORK WITH WENGER??? :o

😆

You have become too predictable Biggus. Honestly, I just knew this post was on the moment I read the original from Mr. Fox.

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