Steven Gerrard has criticised Mario Balotelli in his new book, saying it didn’t take long for his patience to wear thin with the striker.
Balotelli joined Liverpool for £16m in the summer of 2014, but took until February to score his only Premier League goal of the season.
“After his promising debut against Tottenham, he had lapsed in training and the subsequent games. His demeanour was very poor,” writes Gerrard in his autobiography, serialised by the Daily Mail. “I made my mind up pretty quickly after that about Balotelli.
“We got on fine. I still tried to help him and I kept looking for chances to praise him but I could see why Mourinho had been right when he said Balotelli is unmanageable.
“He is very talented with the potential to be world class, but he’ll never get there because of his mentality and the people around him. Balotelli’s always late, he always wants attention.”
Gerrard also says that Rodgers admitted Balotelli was a gamble to him before the transfer was completed.
“In my last season, Brendan Rodgers came to me at Melwood one day in mid-August,” Gerrard continues. “We had a chat on the training pitch.
“He said, ‘You know we’ve missed out on a couple of signings. I’m basically left with no option but to have a bit of a gamble.’
“Brendan paused before he spoke again: ‘The gamble is Mario Balotelli.’ My instant reaction was, ‘Uh-oh.'”
