Former Manchester City kitman Les Chapman has revealed what he found inside Mario Balotelli’s locker after the Italian left the club.
During his time at City, Balotelli quickly became a fan favourite due to his antics both on and off the pitch.
Whilst the talent was clear for everyone to see, his behaviour sometimes landed him in trouble.
However, he did play a huge part in City’s dramatic title win in the 11/12 season.
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Balotelli was the man who played the ball for Sergio Aguero’s late winner in the 3-2 win against QPR.
The Italian eventually left the club in 2013, and ex-kitman Chapman has revealed what he found in Balotelli’s locker.
He said: “I used to do tours of the training ground. And I can remember going into the dressing room with the first tour after Mario had left.
“And I said to them, ‘This is Mario’s locker’. Opened the door and about 30 parking tickets fell out! And a wage slip. He’d been fined by the club, that month, £100,000.”
Chapman added: “He had his car impounded 27 times and owed Manchester City Council 10s of thousands of pounds when he left and I think the club paid it up for him.”
Chapman also went on to recall Balotelli’s infamous ‘Why Always Me?’ celebration.
He said: “This particular day Mario took me around and said 'I want this printed on my shirt, what do you think?' I said yeah I’ll print it up, but [I told him] you can’t have anything that’s offensive to United fans or anybody really.
“He came out with one or two things and I said “No, Mario” and then he said “What about why always me?” As soon as he said it I thought that’s just about perfect and then I got in trouble after the game.
“They wouldn’t let me print anymore shirts after that game because instead of just lifting his shirt up to there, he lifted it over his head and got booked so David Platt said ‘message from Mancini, don’t print anymore shirts’.”
Topics: Mario Balotelli, Manchester City, Football
Marcus Chan