Balotelli linked

It certainly is shaping up to be the week of transfer rumour involving ourselves.

Today's offering comes via James Horncastle who states the Gazetta is reporting that following his storming off and throwing his shirt down at the end of Inter's victory over Barcelona, Mario Balotelli will be sold in the summer to either ourselves or Arsenal.

Balotelli received plenty of ire from team mates and manager Jose Mourinho for his actions, with Dejan Stankovic labelling him 'a child', and comes on the heels of the controversy where he donned a Milan jersey following an interview and was captured by an undercover camera. However it should be noted that Balotelli was present at training this morning.

As a player, Balotelli is undeniably talented - both precocious and prodiguous, yet his actions have clearly alienated him from his team mates and Inter fans (not to mention fans throughout Serie A who generally loathe him). Roberto Mancini has always spoken highly of him however and was the manager who introduced him into the Inter first team.

Would he be worth a risk? It maybe that that he is just still largely an immature kid who will grow out of his clearly petulant ways under the guidance of someone like Mancini. As TLDORC says though, the current dressing room is hardly full of shrinking violets so do we really need to be adding the possibility of trouble into the mix - especially when the money (and possibly Champions League football) we have at our disposal means we can surely land better options?