Former Manchester City and Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli insists that he ‘only has good memories of the Premier League’, which he describes as ‘the best’ league in the world.
The Italian centre-forward scored 20 goals in England’s top flight for City, winning the Premier League with them in 2012 after an FA Cup triumph the year before.
However, his time at Liverpool after a short spell with AC Milan was much less successful, with Balotelli managing a solitary goal in 16 league outings.
Despite this, the striker says he remembers his time in England fondly, and hailed the strength of the competition.
“I only have good memories of the Premier League,” Balotelli said to Arsenal legend and Montreal Impact head coach Thierry Henry on social media. “The Premier League is the best. The French league is physical too, though.”
Balotelli has long held a reputation for his antics off the field as much as on them, but the 29-year-old defended his actions as a younger man.
“I always say I was crazy, but I wasn’t even crazy, I was just young,” Balotelli continued. “I was always respectful, but when you’re 16 or 17 you want to do things that 16 or 17 year olds do – going out to clubs, you know.
“But when you are a footballer there is an expectation of you.”
And the striker praised the two coaches that helped him progress the most, particularly his compatriot at City.
“[The coaches that improved me the most are Roberto] Mancini, because he took me in when I was young and crazy,” he said. “The other one is Lucien Favre.”
Balotelli also put together a line-up of players he believes to be the best ever in their respective positions.
“Pirlo guarantees you 10 goals a year, Yaya can do it all,” the striker said. “That’s a good team I think, although I left you [Henry] out, I left Cristiano [Ronaldo] out.”
Henry subsequently spoke to Kevin-Prince Boateng and the 33-year-old picked out the three best players he has played with in his career.
“People are going to kill me for this, but there are three [players who stand out as the best I’ve played with in my career],” Boateng said to Henry.
“The best I played with is [Lionel] Messi, okay? It’s different playing against him and seeing him in training, what he can do.
“Then [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, he’s on another level, he can play alone. Then [Andrea] Pirlo.
“But if there’s one player who, in every game you play he can win the game for you, it’s Messi.”
