Mario Balotelli

Has anyone ever had a save where his career has turned out positive? In one of my saves he faded into relative obscurity before being bought by Arsenal and scored ~20 league goals and then got fed up and left Arsenal. It seems all I've heard from other players is that he never really develops past his current ability and then eventually declines. It seems strange that the game predicts his career will be a wash when he's only 21!

He has a bad personality in-game and his reputation is probably too high to get a viable tutor (at least Man City never seems to bother tutoring him) so it's really hard for him to develop.

He has a bad personality in-game

Just like in real life then

It's a tough player to manage, irl, but also in the game. How do you make predictions about such a unique personality? I can't recall any player that was so 'unique'. Can you name strikers that play with their Ipad for an entire game because they expect to be in the starting line up of their national side? Any striker that needs help putting on a jersey? Any striker that throws darts at youth players who are training?

I think SI handled it well.

On my FM11 save, I'm 2015 and he has the grand total of two Italy caps. He's been playing for West Ham for about four years, including a season in the Championship in which he scored an overwhelming six league goals in... let me load up the game and check... 34 appearances.

In other words, he's rubbish.

I think you have to buy him and make him the main man so to speak if you are to get anything out of him

In my Liverpool save I picked him up after two or three seasons and he has been doing great for me as an attacking right wing. I think he even led the team in goals one season.

Had him in a Barca save and he rocked. Played him on the right wing and he was genius.

He plays regularly for Chelsea on my save, seems quite happy in a team that is challenging for the league title alongside Torres and Aguero upfront, he isn't their best player but he works well in the Chelsea line-up.

I think you have to buy him and make him the main man so to speak if you are to get anything out of him

I would probably agree with this. In most of my save he just doesn't get used by Manchester City, yet no one seems to buy him either.

The only time I have seen him succeed was when I bought him with Milan, and he struck up a wonderful partnership with Alexandre Pato. The silly boy though decided to get in a mood after I fined him for getting sent off and getting a rating of 5.4. He never forgave me, though he continued perform well until he left on a free at the end of his contract.

Obscurity followed, as he was signed on a free by Barcelona, yet failed to get a regular place in the side.

Ouch...

Shouldn't have fined him;). hes one of those players you have to cuddle all the way and praise. keep him happy and give what he wants or you won't be forgiven

I have never bought him ( I have been offered him loads of times) as his attitude and aggression are to bad/high for my liking - I also look at the bad influence he is likley to have on the rest of the team.

I have never bought him ( I have been offered him loads of times) as his attitude and aggression are to bad/high for my liking - I also look at the bad influence he is likley to have on the rest of the team.

In all honesty, he never caused an issue with the rest of my Milan squad, only with me!

I think you have to buy him and make him the main man so to speak if you are to get anything out of him

This.. I think from my experience and from what I've read (both here and on my home site) that he only ever performs when being managed by the player. the AI seems to hate him

He's been pretty shocking on my save too. At City he scored 1 goal in 33 appearances before he left on a free to Zenit in 2014 where he took the Russian league by storm, scoring 7 goals in 10 apps. Chelsea came a knocking and he completed a £12.75 million move to Stamford Bridge where he found the Premier League again a tough nut to crack. In 3 seasons he scored 11 goals in 56 games (although he was mainly played on the right wing as Chelsea had Alexis Sanchez and Lukaku up front) before being booted out to Sunderland for £6.25 million where he had something of a revival scoring 11 goals in 26 games - his record total. Next season wasn't as good with 1 in 10 before Fiorentina just snapped him up for £1.3 million in 2019 with Leeds beckoning for the Italian. That being said, he had an amazing 2014 World Cup where he scored 5 in 7 and was only beaten to best player by Messi.

Frozen out at City, he tried his luck in the UAE then Serie B before finding his level in the Championship where he managed 1 goal in 17 appearances for the Blades

In 4 full seasons for City so far, he's made 14 league appearances, scoring 2 goals. No appearances in the league in the latter 2 seasons, though there was one cup appearance where he actually got a 7.7 rating. Will be interesting to see where he goes when his contract runs out, if I were a smaller team I'd be tempted to take a punt on him...

I recently entered 2014, but City already tried to sell him along with Santa Cruz and Boateng the previous seasons. I don't remember if they managed to sell him already

I can see him realy fitting in at Milan with Ibra and Robinho.

But yeh i do think he career is pretty much over, he just doesn't have the mentality to be a professional footballer. He would have got it by now if he was ever going too.

Expect the occasional flashes of brilliance and a huge season somewhere down the line for a smaller club, then a big club will buy him and he will fade back into obscurity.

Perhaps my least favourite footballer of all time. Deserves everything the database slings at him.

I've signed him a couple of times.

I never had a problem with his attitude (luck? I don't know. I'd like to put it down to my wonderful man management! ), he improved as a player, had a few good seasons and was well worth the fee and wages I paid out for him (transfer fee was around 2million, both times, with about 80k wages). I then got a hefty transfer fee for him after selling him on, so he more than paid the club back.

If he is left to rot, and in a lot of saves I've seen it happen, his stats will decline quite badly.

All in all, I think his career turned out positively a couple of times in a couple of my saves.

Edit - He also ended up being a regular for Italy.

It's the start of his career that messes him up.

Man City don't play him and tend to let his contract run down, by that time he's too old to change much.

Whenever I have signed him he has been immense.

Once, Chelsea bought him for ~£5m end of season 1. He went on to be one of the greatest players in the world. Almost 100 caps for Italy, scoring 1 in 2.

The guy is almost impossible to motivate with any consistency. His hidden attributes are too rubbish for that. There are literally hundreds of better strikers who'd want 1/10 of his wages and won't need a diaper and anti-psychotics.

He is a squad killer. Because of his low professionalism stat he doesn't develop. (which is absurd! he's got to this point with it...)

Mediocre player - seemed to do ok at Barca. A strange inability to play more than 16 league games per season. Like other have mentioned, consistency and motivation are unknown to him.

Rubbish manager. Bit of a nomad. Couldn't even do well with Celtic (3rd, 2nd & 4th positions).

He went to Liverpool for a bit on my game, then I got him on a free at Derby. He's still doing great on my game, where he is now 29. He's my second striker behind some immense Colombian regen, but he scores a few (sets up a lot too) and on my database has turned into a right flower who gets on with all the management and players! Last year I finished 4th in the Prem in the first season up, and he was a vital part of that.

...a right flower...

Love it!

Mario Balotelli managing Celtic. Now I've seen it all.

On my last save I signed him for my Wolves side, and he tore up the Premiership in his first season, taking me to a third place finish with his goals and assists. Then, in the summer, he started making noises about going to a bigger club, and it was all downhill from there. Awful performances, declining stats and when I finally agreed to let him go no-one would sign him.

And yet for some reason on my current game I just signed him on a free for Sheff Utd in the Championship, having not played a game at City for the last 3 seasons. Got him on a short contract though!

He is a squad killer. Because of his low professionalism stat he doesn't develop. (which is absurd! he's got to this point with it...)

He does improve as I've improved him. Not sure how, or why it's happened, but it has.

I think the whole development thing is a mess anyway and needs a serious overhaul. A lot of it makes no sense.

He does improve as I've improved him. Not sure how, or why it's happened, but it has.

I think the whole development thing is a mess anyway and needs a serious overhaul. A lot of it makes no sense.

Care to mention which parts? I assume its because you're bad at it

Care to mention which parts? I assume its because you're bad at it

Another bear bating and nonsensical post. What are you on about?

Stop trying to descend another thread into a slanging match and grow up.

He does improve as I've improved him. Not sure how, or why it's happened, but it has.

I think the whole development thing is a mess anyway and needs a serious overhaul. A lot of it makes no sense.

Care to mention which parts? I assume its because you're bad at it

Another bear bating and nonsensical post. What are you on about?

Stop trying to descend another thread into a slanging match and grow up.

Whilst I agree there was no need for the second part of the post its a fair question.

Which parts of development do you disagree with and how do you think it could be improved?

Another bear bating and nonsensical post. What are you on about?

Stop trying to descend another thread into a slanging match and grow up.

I don't see what's wrong with the question tbh. Not my problem if you can't understand it.

Whilst I agree there was no need for the second part of the post its a fair question.

Which parts of development do you disagree with and how do you think it could be improved?

I have don't really know which parts I disagree with because I don't really know how it works. It makes no sense. For instance, lets say I have top coaches, a 20 year old with a high pro stat, det and all the other stats that hes supposed to need to improve as a player, I then train specific areas on high and he loses 6 or 7 points in those areas even after playing well in games and not being over played. It makes no sense as everything is perfect for that player to develop, yet, on another save, doing exactly the same things with exactly the same players his stats improve, and if the margin of failure is so fine then I guess something needs to be looked at. And tbh, I don't think anybody really has a clue how training works when random things keep happening. I'm yet to see a thread that isn't speculation.

Play nicely please.

On-topic:

I have don't really know which parts I disagree with because I don't really know how it works. It makes no sense. For instance, lets say I have top coaches, a 20 year old with a high pro stat, det and all the other stats that hes supposed to need to improve as a player, I then train specific areas on high and he loses 6 or 7 points in those areas even after playing well in games and not being over played. It makes no sense as everything is perfect for that player to develop, yet, on another save, doing exactly the same things with exactly the same players his stats improve, and if the margin of failure is so fine then I guess something needs to be looked at. And tbh, I don't think anybody really has a clue how training works when bizarre random things keep happening.

It's not a margin of failure, it's just a bit of luck. There's a random factor built into everything in FM, the way a ball bounces, whether a bit of training works, how a player responds to a comment, otherwise it would be far too easy. That's all the same as real-life.

I agree there are issues with development, but not those that you're pointing out.

All you're doing by setting training is telling the coaches how much of each bit of training the player is supposed to be doing. Doesn't mean it'll work, and it doesn't mean you did anything wrong if it doesn't.

I have don't really know which parts I disagree with because I don't really know how it works. It makes no sense. For instance, lets say I have top coaches, a 20 year old with a high pro stat, det and all the other stats that hes supposed to need to improve as a player, I then train specific areas on high and he loses 6 or 7 points in those areas even after playing well in games and not being over played. It makes no sense as everything is perfect for that player to develop, yet, on another save, doing exactly the same things with exactly the same players his stats improve, and if the margin of failure is so fine then I guess something needs to be looked at. And tbh, I don't think anybody really has a clue how training works when random things keep happening. I'm yet to see a thread that isn't speculation.

I have very rarely seen promising youngsters -lose- points in key attributes... Let alone that many!

Although once a friend of mine bought Phil Jones and he was red-arrowed all over. Checking his information on FMRTE he found out that his Ambition attribute was random, and was at 3 in that save. Would ruin any youngster, that!

I have don't really know which parts I disagree with because I don't really know how it works. It makes no sense. For instance, lets say I have top coaches, a 20 year old with a high pro stat, det and all the other stats that hes supposed to need to improve as a player, I then train specific areas on high and he loses 6 or 7 points in those areas even after playing well in games and not being over played. It makes no sense as everything is perfect for that player to develop, yet, on another save, doing exactly the same things with exactly the same players his stats improve, and if the margin of failure is so fine then I guess something needs to be looked at. And tbh, I don't think anybody really has a clue how training works when random things keep happening. I'm yet to see a thread that isn't speculation.

This thread (or at least the OP) isn't bad: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/240386-FM2011-Training-Masterclass although I can't speak for the veracity of any of the posts beyond the first one as I haven't read them.

I also agree with BiggusD I've never seen stat drops as severe as that with any player until they hit about 36

I have very rarely seen promising youngsters -lose- points in key attributes... Let alone that many!

Although once a friend of mine bought Phil Jones and he was red-arrowed all over. Checking his information on FMRTE he found out that his Ambition attribute was random, and was at 3 in that save. Would ruin any youngster, that!

The same thing happened with Phil Jones when I signed him at Real M. Never seen anything like it tbh, he turned to absolute *****!

I don't understand why, it was a top club, with top facilities, coaches etc, a training regime I'd used on him before which worked wonders and that happens. I just don't get it.

Edit - Oh and I remember checking some of his stats with FMRTE and it still didn't seem to make much sense.

what so a key attribute dropped by 7?! so from 15 to 8 for example, or 7 points in the scale of different weightings on certain attributes?

I'm also struggling to believe Phil Jones and Balotelli both tropped 5-7 pts in a key attribute if they were being training in it.

Even a multiple-month injury doesn't cause enough of a CA drop to do that.

what so a key attribute dropped by 7?! so from 15 to 8 for example, or 7 points in the scale of different weightings on certain attributes?

I'm also struggling to believe Phil Jones and Balotelli both tropped 5-7 pts in a key attribute if they were being training in it.

Even a multiple-month injury doesn't cause enough of a CA drop to do that.

I'm sure dking means 6/7 key attributes have all dropped by a single point in the same month.

I'm sure dking means 6/7 key attributes have all dropped by a single point in the same month.

In that case, it may have been a bad training month for him. Tell him to work harder and they will all come back. This happens from time to time and is frustrating but nothing to worry about in the long run.

I'm sure dking means 6/7 key attributes have all dropped by a single point in the same month.

ah ok, well in that case its nothing much to worry about, it could have been for a number of reasons, it happens during the season, they will regain the points if you keep ontop of them.

He is pretty good for me on my save. Signed him for 17m from Liverpool as he wanted to leave. He hardly played any games in 4 season for City before leaving to Inter. Only problem I have is that he is only content to say so will have to be careful not to upset him.

I'm sure dking means 6/7 key attributes have all dropped by a single point in the same month.

This

In that case, it may have been a bad training month for him. Tell him to work harder and they will all come back. This happens from time to time and is frustrating but nothing to worry about in the long run.

Thats what I thought but after about a year his stats never went back up. I tried changing training regimes but didn't have much joy. He turned 24 as well and from what I can gather attributes slow down a lot around this age.

Here's Balotelli in March 2020 on my game. Still a very decent performer.

His career went downhill in my current game... City didn't really play him, so I bought him for £2.5M on modest wages. I play with 3 strikers but still had at least 4 better than him so he never really got a game. Sold him to Middlesborough for £2.5m who didn't play him either, he's now at Aab and not playing particularly well