Yes, you read that correctly. Don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking. Why would Spurs want to sign an out-of-form striker who is notorious for being a prima donna, both on and off the pitch? That’s why. Allow me to explain. Let’s start off the pitch shall we?
It’s no secret that Daniel Levy wants Spurs to be one of Europe’s most successful clubs. He’s shown his intent through the Northumberland Development Project, but here’s the problem. The 20 richest football clubs don’t make the majority of their money from match day sales, so building a new stadium to increase capacity won’t get Spurs there. What will it take to get there? Aha! You guessed it, merchandise sales. Enter Mario Balotelli.
Case in point—the day Liverpool officially signed Balotelli, they sold £50,000 worth of shirts. Sure that doesn’t seem like much, but it’s likely more than a year’s worth of Soldado shirts sold. Don’t get me wrong, we shouldn’t sign Balotelli just to sell some shirts. There are other reasons to sign him, starting with publicity. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as bad publicity and Balotelli has plenty. This fact is true especially for a club looking to expand its’ fan base like Tottenham. A larger fan base, in turn, will increase revenue and allow Spurs to spend more on players to improve the chances of reaching top four or even winning the league.
So what can Balotelli possibly bring to White Hart Lane? Mario turns 25 in a few weeks and still has many years left to play top quality football. He’s also a proven Italian international with Premier League experience from his tenure with Manchester City.
It’s safe to say that Balotelli has been in a slump, but Liverpool hasn’t given him much of a chance either. Moving to another club is hard enough, then factor in the demotion of coming off the bench—it’s no wonder he’s been off his game. Brendan Rodgers was also training Mario as a lone striker, another difference from how he’s used to playing. It just seems that Liverpool had Balotelli destined to fail from the start.
We can all agree that Tottenham would be a better environment for Balotelli. Just ask Rafael van der Vaart, who stated that his worst career decision was leaving Spurs. Pochettino is also unlike any other manager, so I believe he is capable of getting the most out of Balotelli.
So here’s what I propose—offer a loan deal worth £1 or £2 million with an option to buy for around £8 million. It’s more than likely Liverpool will give into these prices considering the circumstances. Worst case scenario he’s still better than Soldado. At this point I’ll take anyone over Soldado. Frankly, I’d take a large trash can at 10 meters out any day over the Spaniard. At least the trash can would be a better finisher.
Even if Balotelli performs poorly, we would just give him back to Liverpool at the end of the season and he’d be their problem again. Best case scenario is Balotelli breaks out and is the £20 million signing that Liverpool anticipated and we buy him for a fraction of that at £8 million. Imagine this Harry Kane, Mario Balotelli and possibly Saido Berahino on the same team and all in-form. Spurs could then be on the verge of a title run. Now all we need is another top-class midfielder.
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