Nigel de Jong and Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli needs to change his ways or risk wasting a world-class talent.
That was the strong message from City stalwart Nigel de Jong after the young Italian added another misdemeanour to one of the longest rap sheets in football.
Balotelli was substituted by his angry manager Roberto Mancini after casually trying a spinning backheel to score when clean through on goal against Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.
Mancini warned Balotelli he will spend more time on the bench unless he cleans up his act, dismissing the player’s claim that he thought he was offside as ‘streetwise’.
De Jong knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of adverse publicity.
His unpunished kung fu kick on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final last summer and his subsequent leg-breaking tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa led to a witch-hunt in the Dutch media and a temporary ban from playing for his country.
But he hinted that his teammates are losing patience with Balotelli’s outbursts, which are detracting from his obvious talent.
“It is frustrating and he has to iron out those issues otherwise it will be a waste of his talent,” said de Jong. “He has to realise that.
“We have had a good two and a half weeks of training and he has played a couple of games well.
“He is coming across strongly in training and progressing every day, but he has to remove these kind of moments from his game.
“His team-mates are here to help him but at the end of the day he’s his own person and he is the only one who can change his ways.”
“Everybody tries to help him, not only me. Everybody is trying but it is on him to change himself.
“He listens but he has to realise it’s up to him. It’s not on anyone else any more.”
Balotelli is well-liked by his teammates, but his oddball ways ‘take some getting used to’, as Shaun Wright-Phillips once said.
De Jong agrees, but says he has never seen anything quite like the showboating which would have been more at home in Hollywood, 15 miles from the Galaxy ground.
Characters
De Jong said: “I’ve played with some strange characters in the past so I have seen a couple of those things but it’s the first time I have seen that.”
Balotelli had an angry exchange with Mancini, and threw a water bottle at the ground as he sat on the bench, a staff member having to retrieve it as it bounced onto the pitch.
He also disappeared, with his shirt over his head, up the tunnel and did not re-emerge for the second half.
De Jong believes the 20-year-old is repentant for his actions, saying: “He must think like that.
“That’s the normal way, asking yourself: ‘Why did I do that?’ But that’s for him to learn from and realise that something like this will not be accepted, either by the team or the staff.
“You’ve already heard the manager’s statement about Mario, so that’s for us to follow. It’s important everyone is on the same page and everyone has the same focus and that we remain strong as a group.”
Balotelli had already shown the positive side of his character, having a strong half-hour in which he showed a good understanding with David Silva and rolled in a penalty to give City the lead.
And de Jong said the level of his talent should not be forgotten amidst the controversy.
“He’s a very talented guy and he has all the right attributes to be a world-class player,” he said. “Everyone is always talking about the negative things but, as a football player, he’s one of the biggest talents.”
And, based on his own experiences, de Jong says Balotelli must ignore the flak, get his head down and try to impress everyone with the good things he can do on the pitch.
Talking of his arbitrary five-month ban by the Dutch FA for what they perceived as persistent violent conduct, de Jong said: “At that time everything was so up and so down.
“Everybody knew what happened but that’s life, that’s football, the main thing is you have to remain focussed and do your business on the pitch.”
“I don’t even know I got criticism. I heard it from some people but I didn’t read everything so, to be honest, half of it I don’t even know about.
“You just have to keep your focus and show what you can do.”
That was the strong message from City stalwart Nigel de Jong after the young Italian added another misdemeanour to one of the longest rap sheets in football.
Balotelli was substituted by his angry manager Roberto Mancini after casually trying a spinning backheel to score when clean through on goal against Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.
Mancini warned Balotelli he will spend more time on the bench unless he cleans up his act, dismissing the player’s claim that he thought he was offside as ‘streetwise’.
De Jong knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of adverse publicity.
His unpunished kung fu kick on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final last summer and his subsequent leg-breaking tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa led to a witch-hunt in the Dutch media and a temporary ban from playing for his country.
But he hinted that his teammates are losing patience with Balotelli’s outbursts, which are detracting from his obvious talent.
“It is frustrating and he has to iron out those issues otherwise it will be a waste of his talent,” said de Jong. “He has to realise that.
“We have had a good two and a half weeks of training and he has played a couple of games well.
“He is coming across strongly in training and progressing every day, but he has to remove these kind of moments from his game.
“His team-mates are here to help him but at the end of the day he’s his own person and he is the only one who can change his ways.”
“Everybody tries to help him, not only me. Everybody is trying but it is on him to change himself.
“He listens but he has to realise it’s up to him. It’s not on anyone else any more.”
Balotelli is well-liked by his teammates, but his oddball ways ‘take some getting used to’, as Shaun Wright-Phillips once said.
De Jong agrees, but says he has never seen anything quite like the showboating which would have been more at home in Hollywood, 15 miles from the Galaxy ground.
Characters
De Jong said: “I’ve played with some strange characters in the past so I have seen a couple of those things but it’s the first time I have seen that.”
Balotelli had an angry exchange with Mancini, and threw a water bottle at the ground as he sat on the bench, a staff member having to retrieve it as it bounced onto the pitch.
He also disappeared, with his shirt over his head, up the tunnel and did not re-emerge for the second half.
De Jong believes the 20-year-old is repentant for his actions, saying: “He must think like that.
“That’s the normal way, asking yourself: ‘Why did I do that?’ But that’s for him to learn from and realise that something like this will not be accepted, either by the team or the staff.
“You’ve already heard the manager’s statement about Mario, so that’s for us to follow. It’s important everyone is on the same page and everyone has the same focus and that we remain strong as a group.”
Balotelli had already shown the positive side of his character, having a strong half-hour in which he showed a good understanding with David Silva and rolled in a penalty to give City the lead.
And de Jong said the level of his talent should not be forgotten amidst the controversy.
“He’s a very talented guy and he has all the right attributes to be a world-class player,” he said. “Everyone is always talking about the negative things but, as a football player, he’s one of the biggest talents.”
And, based on his own experiences, de Jong says Balotelli must ignore the flak, get his head down and try to impress everyone with the good things he can do on the pitch.
Talking of his arbitrary five-month ban by the Dutch FA for what they perceived as persistent violent conduct, de Jong said: “At that time everything was so up and so down.
“Everybody knew what happened but that’s life, that’s football, the main thing is you have to remain focussed and do your business on the pitch.”
“I don’t even know I got criticism. I heard it from some people but I didn’t read everything so, to be honest, half of it I don’t even know about.
“You just have to keep your focus and show what you can do.”
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