Featured Image Credit: PA/BBC
Topics: Mario Balotelli, Manchester City, Micah Richards, Premier League
Ryan Sidle
Topics: Mario Balotelli, Manchester City, Micah Richards, Premier League
Mario Balotelli's shenanigans down the years are pretty well known, even if some of them aren't always true, and the former Manchester City striker once racked up thousands of pounds worth of fines for being late.
The stories of Balotelli, no matter where he is, have always become somewhat legendary, such as the time he was subbed off early for trying something stupid in a pre season game.
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He's still at it really, with the Italy striker recently making a point to celebrate in front of an opposing manager who called him 'brainless' eight years before.
Of course whilst at City his most famous moment happened, as he lifted his shirt during the famous 6-1 win to reveal a t-shirt that read 'Why Always Me?'
That could have been in response for how much he'd been fined by the club just for being late, as his former teammate Micah Richards revealed that the striker actually totted up a bill of around £150,000, for not managing to get to training and meetings on time.
"Everything else seems to be within sync. Balotelli was always late," the former City full back told BBC 5 Live, back in 2019.
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"We used to give all of our money to charities and by Christmas time we'd have £100,000 or £150,000 in there all from Balotelli being late.
"He would be in the building.
"Say we had a meeting upstairs - he'd be downstairs just relaxing.
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"He'd come to the meeting but he was just a bit dozy."
Richards was one of the players who was supposed to collect on the fines and, according to what the pundit said, it sounds like Balotelli certainly could have been fined more.
The 33-year-old, whose brilliant on screen partnership with Roy Keane has had us all laughing, revealed that only Vincent Kompany would ever make sure fines were kept to.
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"Kompany, he's busy isn't he? He just looks like that person anyway," Richards added.
"He always kept a track of the fines and because I was sort of vice-captain, one of the leaders in the dressing room, he'd ask me to take charge of it.
"But I wasn't going to say to the manager 'Oh player was late today, oh player didn't put his bib in the washing machine'.
"So it was only if Vincent Kompany caught you. I'm not a snitch.
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Balotelli will be glad that Frank Lampard was never his manager, the Everton boss famously had a long list of offences that carried fines when he was Chelsea gaffer.
The list had re-emerged since the former midfielder took over from Rafa Benitez at Goodison Park and Balotelli certainly would have fallen short of some of them.