Former Barcelona boss Johan Cruyff claims Mario Balotelli’s poor form at Liverpool has come from a lack of education in football.
Balotelli joined the Merseyside club for £16m this summer from AC Milan but is yet to score a single Premier League goal and many of the club’s fans, media men and coaching staff have questionned his attitude and determination to succeed in a red shirt.
However, Cruyff believes that Balotelli is not all to blame for his troubles and that he was not taught how to behave in his younger years.
“What I think about Balotelli as a player and as a man? We always talk about the person, I prefer to talk about education of the person,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport. “Balotelli doesn’t behave well and we have to ask why.
“To me, if someone is not educated, he doesn’t play. To me, it is not fault of the player, but of the team that makes him play. The problem is not Mario, but the education that was given to him.
“If he had been educated in a certain way, he wouldn’t behave this way.”