Only a few years ago, when Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought Manchester City there were cries left right and centre. ‘You can’t buy silverware,’ ‘They will fail miserably,’ ‘You can’t buy a team’- how wrong they all were.
We are raised to believe there is more to life than money, and indeed money can’t buy everything, but money can buy an extremely gifted set of footballers.
It was painfully obvious from the outset that many players signed for the money, it was hard to argue they came for ‘the challenge’ when a perpetual stream of cash was the acting lifeblood of ‘the other Manchester team’.
Fast forward three years, remove marquee signing Robinho and we have a real contender for the Premier League which after years and years, can break through the traditional strong four.
A 4-1 thrashing of Aston Villa, set alight by Balotelli’s brilliant overhead kick has placed Man City at the top of the table as they take on cross-town rivals Manchester United this week.
United go into the derby as favourites, but the odds don’t tell the true story: there is every betting man’s chance that City will cause an upset, especially given how the team has gelled over the past two seasons.
Greater unity, an ability to understand one another’s game a whole lot better and a currently sane and burning Balotelli will make for a titanic derby in the city of Manchester.
The Palermo native and former Inter starlet is on form and as usual, has a point to prove. Hostile and comically unpredictable, if there were any other hot head on the field come derby day it would have to be Rooney.
By far the better player, Rooney’s fair share of troubles and inability to control his anger has led to some serious consequences as of late.
Seeing these two on the field will be a spectacle; Rooney is dangerous, clinical in his finishing and a hustler on the field.
Balotelli is equally as devastating with the ball at his feet, plays as though he doesn’t care and totally pulls it off. Refusing to celebrate goals, one must wonder if this is a sign of his insatiable appetite when it comes to his job as a footballer.
“I will become stronger than you,” he vehemently told Cristiano Ronaldo after asking him for his jersey, only to be told he had agreed to give it to somebody else.
“In the Premier League, if he knows how to listen and wants to learn, he could become a great player. I hope he achieves that,” Ronaldo said earlier this year, “However, today he puts many other things ahead of his career and this is not good.”
If the 21 year-old can keep his cool, and whatever demons seem to haunt him at bay, the Premier League will have a powerful talent up there with the very best.
Man City will have an iconic replacement for Tevez, and Italy will have a much needed fresh pair of legs to bring the Azzurri back on top.
The world has been talking about Super Mario for quite some time, and it is easy to forget that he has only recently turned 21.
But if all the years of hype, all the words of his colleagues and coaches (Mourinho included) are worth their weight in gold, we might just have the next best thing in football.
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