Mario Balotelli closes in on return
Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli expects to return to training by the end of November.
The £24 million forward injured the lateral meniscus in his right knee during a Europa League game with Timisoara on 19 August.
The striker said that he hopes to be back in four to eight weeks. Initially the 20-year-old was expected to be back in October after the player received surgery on 8 September. However, Balotelli’s recovery has taken far longer than first expected and that
estimate has been revised to late November.
The former Inter Milan striker has only played 33 minutes of football for Manchester City. Unfortunately, he picked up the knee injury in that game and has not featured since his debut.
The forward expects to be able to feature for the games in December, which will include a trip to Juventus. Whether Manchester City Roberto Mancini uses the player that early remains to be seen and it is likely that the manager will slowly introduce Balotelli
by giving him some playing time as a substitute.
Balotelli was born in Italy to Ghanaian immigrants. When the player last played Juventus he was an Inter Milan player and suffered heckling from many of the Juventus fans. As a result Juventus were forced to play behind closed doors.
Since Balotelli’s injury Manchester City have been up-and-down. They have produced some good wins against Liverpool and Chelsea in the league, yet have failed to beat a number of the weaker sides in the Premier League. They were also knocked out of the Carling
Cup by West Ham.
Manchester City will play at home against Bolton in their first league game in December. Balotelli will hope that the manager will give him a chance to make an impact.
With Mancini adopting a lone striker in most of his games, the £24 million striker may have to wait his turn, along with a host of star names.
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