Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is happy with life at the club despite football administrator Brian Marwood advising the club’s youth players to ignore the striker as a role model.
Marwood picked out several key players like Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart as ideal examples, but alluded to Balotelli as one who fails to represent the proper values of the club.
“We have a lot of players who think and behave in the right way. You have to make sure they’re the right role models,” he told reporters.
“I think, and we all know who you’re talking about, you’ll always get people within the system that will not show those values and behaviours, but in the main I think we have a fantastic group of players.”
Balotelli, speaking after his goal and performance helped Italy to a 3-1 World Cup qualifying win against Denmark on Tuesday, insists that all is fine for him in Manchester, going as far as to say his relationship with Mancini is more serious than some think.
“I am fine at City, even though there are people who like to talk in the newspapers, instead of saying certain things to my face. I do not give a damn,” he told Italian TV channel Rai.
“With Mancini, all goes well. We have a good relationship, even though someone always tries to pull discord among us. We love each other.”