How Do You Solve A Problem Like Mario?

If Mario Balotelli had been purchased to talk by Manchester City then his fee would already be justified but unfortunately for the 20 year-old Italian he was bought for his footballing talents and has spent most of his Manchester City career off the pitch rather than on it due to injury and discipline problems.

After injuring the meniscus in his knee on debut against FC Timisoara, a game in which he scored the winning goal, Balotelli did not feature again for City following his £24m move until late October where he was criticised for a poor performance at Wolves - something which acted as proof to many that he would not be able to cut the mustard in the Premier League.

However, we were to see the first glimpses of the good and bad sides of Balotelli at West Brom as the enigmatic striker scored twice before being sent off for two bookable offences later on in the match. Despite these moments of quality, Balotelli's insolence has stolen most of the headlines. It seems that once the youngster throws a strop, he finds it impossible to get out of it which results in incidents like the one at the Hawthorns.

In the recent 3-1 win away at West Ham, Balotelli walked straight down the tunnel upon being substituted; not bothering to stop to acknowledge his manager, Roberto Mancini after having a poor game. This led to the attitude of the Italian international being widely criticised with some citing it would hamper his chances of succeeding in the English game.

As such, that statement is true: there can be no doubt that Balotelli has the ability to do well - he won the Golden Boy trophy, thus winning what is effectively a popularity contest - one of the greater ironies of 2010, yet still managed to overshadow this achievement by saying he was better than every winner of the trophy bar one - Lionel Messi.

He also stated that he'd never heard of Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, who finished second in the running for the trophy. Modesty is clearly not a trait Balotelli has inherited but such arrogance is astounding given the hype around Wilshere. But, then again, why would Balotelli bother to care about anyone but himself? After all, he epitomises the attitude of spoilt youngsters in football nowadays.

Stirring up controversy with regards to AC Milan is also something that "Super Mario" is no stranger to, his statement that he will play for AC Milan one day despite moving to Manchester City from their bitter rivals Internazionale. Whilst at Inter Milan, he was pictured wearing an AC Milan shirt live on national television which sparked outrage amongst the Nerazzurri faithful, prompting Super Mario to be given a Balotelling off by his manager, Jose Mourinho.

In an era where every move of footballers is scrutinised, Balotelli would be well advised to hire someone to teach him how to deal with the media as it is obvious his talents lie with his feet rather than with his words.