The home loss to Parma was the last straw. The honeymoon between the team and the fans after the arrival of Clarence Seedorf has just ended. Sunday afternoon Mario Balotelli was among the most contested players. Fans say that Super Mario has an indolent attitude and the Champions League game played at Vicente Calderon strengthened this sensation. Balo was on the pitch in the 4-1 defeat to Colchoneros, but he was mentally absent.

 

Even his current coach Seedorf said that Balo is being a scapegoat for the team failure which he has no hand it adding that "It’s only natural for people to seek scapegoats, but we will remain united and focused. If we had beaten Juventus and Atletico at home, then things would’ve changed”.

 

That's true: tifosi think like tifosi. But to a detached observer it's quite evident that Milan problems don't depend only on Mario Balotelli. Super Mario is only one player among eleven, and even if he often leaves his team mates in trouble for his excesses, we can't deny that the credit for the Champions League qualification in the past season belongs mostly to Balo. Probably even Leo Messi woudn't perform as well as he normally does playing with the current Milan.

 

In this story there's another aspect that does not work. Last Sunday, Milan ultras have been hosted in a private room of the San Siro stadium as if they were members or managers of the club. Ultras are allowed to take part in the decision making process more than what they are supposed to, and this is a clear message of weakness from the club, which lacks a strong leadership and seems to have no plan.

 

In these days the Italian press is taking for granted the fact that Mario Balotelli will be sold during the summer, Milan is allegedly hoping for a brilliant World Cup to maximize the profit. But selling Super Mario would be a bad mistake. For three reasons:


- Mario is a forward with 189cm and around 88kg and he's only 23 years old, his style of play is fitting Seedorf plans for the next season or even current one. He is agile, quick and powerful and he is credited with pace, strength and technical ability. He's not the classic center forward as his technique allows him to play as second striker. Buying a reliable and physically intact striker (the equivalent of Llorente for Juventus) could suffice to deal with the next season, which will be – almost definitely – without any European competition.

- Mario is a set-piece specialist. And a set-piece specialist is an asset that a club should not never dismiss. He is regarded as one of the best penalty kicks takers in world football, a view backed by his Manchester City goalkeeping team-mate Joe Hart. Balotelli missed his first competitive penalty on 22 September 2013: his penalty was saved by Pepe Reina in the game against Napoli. Serie A is ever more balanced, and this means that many games can be decided by a perfect set-piece.


- Like it or not, Mario Balotelli is the icon of the current Milan. Every top club needs (at least!) an icon, a globally recognizable symbol. Barça has Leo Messi and Neymar, Real Madrid has Cristiano Rolando, Manchester United has Wayne Rooney... even Juventus have Carlos Tevez. After selling Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Nesta, Gattuso and Inzaghi's retirement, the Rossoneri needed a marketable name. Is not a coincidence that Milan signed Balotelli just at that time. He is well known in Europe and even in USA and Asia. As we already wrote in a recent analysis, Italian football is desperately struggling to match the top European clubs' revenues. How can we think to reach this goal, if we jettison our talents?

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