The rumors of Balotelli leaving Manctiy is true, but is it Goodbye and good riddance, or thanks for the memories? After three years in Manchester, Mario Balotelli is heading back to Italy in a deal worth almost £20million. It is a financial loss for City, but is it a loss to the Premier League?I'll say this for him, he's pretty reliable from 12 yards. Beyond that, his reliability is akin to that of Del Boy's three-wheeler; the £25million man is a plonker.Whenever discussion turns to the striker, as it inevitability does on an almost daily basis, I'm reminded of the old phrase, 'just because you are a character, doesn't mean you have character'.
Football's great characters - George Best, Eric Cantona, Paul Gascoigne, Paolo di Canio - filled column inches off the pitch, but however serious their indiscretions without the ball, they demanded headlines for what they achieved with it.
Aside from his destructive, whirlwind performance against Germany in the semi-final of Euro 2012, where he single-handedly dumped Spain's biggest rivals out, the Italian has shown little to justify top billing.
When one thinks back through the three years Balotelli has dominated the news agenda in the Premier League, skills, goals or match-winning contributions are a mere footnote to the training ground fights, lurid tabloid tales, silly hats, red cards and disregard for the rules. The only explosive thing about this guy were the pyrotechnics he let off in the bathroom of his home.
Even City's 6-1 demolition of Manchester United - an iconic scoreline of 20 years in the Premier League - isn't remembered by the seismic shift it represented in the football landscape, but for the 'look at me' celebration of City's main attraction. Why always you, Mario?
This Premier League season, Balotelli has scored one goal in 14 appearances, and been deemed worthy of 90 minutes just once. He's shooting accuracy is more wayward than at any point in his City career, his chance conversion rate is SEVEN times worse than last season, and his link-up with team-mates is pitiful. Rather than hurtling towards his peak years, the 22-year-old is regressing.
He's never been a team player - he has one assist in 54 appearances - and in a sqaud of questionable temperament, the livewire was the spark that all too often unsettled things.
When he did play, City were considerably worse off. Three red cards - one of which at Anfield came about after he collected two yellow cards in 18 second-half minutes as a substitute - came while the champions posted a win ratio with him of 59 per cent compared with 73 per cent without.
Even when he was worthy of praise, Balotelli poisoned a journalist's pen for himself. His first goal, in November 2010 against West Brom, was followed later in the match by a red card for kicking out at Youssouf Mulumbu.
Chance after chance he got, though. Mancini's patience tested to the very limit, but the man who had given the teenager his first big chance persevered. He was repaid with an attitude that, frankly, stunk.
Only Manchester's photographers, kept in work as they have been by Balotelli, can possibly see his deflection home to be a bad thing. Good riddance.