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There’s trouble brewing at Eastlands as patience is running thin on £24 million man Mario Balotelli. Italian U-21 manager Pierluigi Casiraghi said, “Seeing a lad of his talent who at 18 behaves like this both with the national team and his club is infuriating.” Then Inter manager José Mourinho remarked “He has a single brain cell, he's impossible to work with." Current manager, Roberto Mancini claimed, "I speak but I don't think he listens."

Balotelli has done more talking than playing. Remember after winning the Golden Boy trophy, he said, “There's only one that is a little stronger than me—Messi […] all the rest are behind me." He then claimed he didn’t know who Jack Wilshere was and would show him his Golden Boy trophy award to remind Wilshere who he was. Whilst Wilshere has progressed significantly, Balotelli has regressed drastically.

In 76 games for Inter Milan, Balotelli scored 28 goals and provided 13 assists. Yet, by accumulating 20 yellow cards and two red cards, he was also a liability. Balotelli’s mental fragility, selfishness and refusal to track back and defend were reasons why he was banished to the bench under Mourinho’s reign.

This season, Balotelli has scored 10 goals in 20 games but he also racked up nine yellow cards and two red cards. Like Mourinho, Mancini now faces the dilemma of giving Balotelli another chance or disciplining him i.e. dropping him to the reserves until he shows more professionalism.

Nigel De Jong insists that Balotelli will learn from his mistakes however this list will document five stupid moments to suggest otherwise.