Balotelli: If Italy call, I'll be ready
The Azzurri Coach hasn’t selected the Nice star since he took over after the 2016 European Championships.
“If the Coach wants to call me, then I am ready. If he doesn’t want to call me, then I’ll always cheer on the Nazionale,” Balotelli told Nice Matin.
The former Inter and AC Milan player has started the season well with Nice, bagging five goals in six league starts.
Fears about his bad-boy past has probably had a major impact, and kept him away from the Azzurri, who have a key World Cup 2018 playoff against Sweden coming up.
Balotelli explained why he hasn’t returned to Italy, despite netting fifteen Ligue 1 goals last season.
“Before talking about football, I chose to stay at Nice for the human element. The President, the Coach, they are good people. That is above all why I made this choice, as I needed to feel wanted above all else.”
He then capped off with a very thought-provoking passage: “What really irritates me is criticism on my personal life. If it’s about football, I don’t mind, in the sense that if I play badly on Sunday, I talk to the Coach on Monday about what I should’ve done better. I know if I played well, I don’t need to read the newspaper to find that out.
“It’s not that the opinions of others don’t interest me, but I accept them. They are part of the job and if you don’t accept criticism, you need to change profession.”