Balotelli bust up could call time on his Man City career

4Jan 2013

Premier League

Christian Crowther debates the implications of Roberto Mancini and Mario Balotelli's training ground dust-up...

It has often been reported that Mancini has a love-hate relationship with his young compatriot who followed him to the Etihad Stadium from Inter in 2010. Well, now that tempestuous relationship may just have reached the point of no return.

On Thursday afternoon, pictures emerged of ugly scenes between the two men on the training pitch as Manchester City prepared for their FA Cup third round tie against Championship promotion chasers Watford on Saturday.

City are understandably overwhelming favourites to progress - available at 1.18 - but incidents like this have the potential to cause focus to shift within the camp.

Mancini will no doubt be quick to dispel the incident ahead of Saturday's tie however, as this is a competition he has a real affinity with after scooping the trophy in his first full season in charge of the club.

They have a great chance too with the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all receiving tricky away draws at other Premier League clubs, so City have understandably been installed as early tournament frontrunners at 6.2.

There has already been much speculation surrounding Balotelli's future at the club as the mercurial Italian has failed to deliver anything like the form which made him a crowd favourite last season.

To put it into context, Balotelli has only notched a single league goal this season compared to the eight he had registered by this point last year.

Not for the first time since his arrival in England, issues have again cropped up surrounding behaviour on and off the field and a lingering lack of respect for authority.

A move back to Italy has often been mooted in the press with AC Milan's name strongly linked, although Balotelli's agent and Milan president Silvio Berlusconi have both played down a potential transfer in recent weeks.

However, this latest bust up could well inject impetus into any potential move or bring into play the possibility of a loan deal.

If Balotelli does make a rapid exit then this could open the door for another striker such as the versatile David Villa, out of favour at the Nou Camp, or even Athletic Bilbao outcast Fernando Llorente.