Sports Burst – Balotelli Is Back!
Balo’s Italy exile and Germany’s power play.
By Tim Stannard
Mancini promises Balotelli return to Italy
After hanging about in the relative football backwaters of Nice, where the footballer has spent two years quietly restoring the image that the striker is quite capable of scoring goals as well as getting into social media feuds with Kanye West, Balotelli is set for a busy few weeks.
First off, a rehabilitated Balotelli is set to join a brand-new club – potentially a return to Serie A – now that the footballer is out of contract with Nice. Secondly, the forward will be wearing Italy’s national team jersey again with the country’s new national coach, Roberto Mancini, revealing on Tuesday that he is happy to open the door to Italy, an avenue that has been closed since 2014.
Speaking on his first day on the job, Mancini said that he would speak to his former charge at Manchester City and that would “probably take Mario Balotelli” to Italy’s upcoming friendly games. The former Zenit manager also noted the biggest challenge of taking on the Italy job - “If you coach a club and you don’t win everyone is angry with you, here there are 50 million people.”
Mannschaft power move leaves World Cup winner out of 2018 squad
Sorry, Italy, but now onto countries that are actually going to World Cup, starting with Germany.
A provisional 27-man squad has been announced and there is no place for Mario Gotze, the scorer of Germany’s winning goal in the 2014 final. And that’s not overly surprising considering the footballer has been in indifferent form for Borussia Dortmund and struggling for fitness after suffering with myopathy which has hampered the midfielder in recent years. However, Manuel Neuer has been included despite being out of action since September with a broken foot.
Gareth Southgate is set to announce his provisional England squad for Russia 2018 and if the local media is right, there will be sighs of relief from fans as Joe Hart is set to be left behind – but will probably end up having the kind of luxury summer vacation it would take the likes of us 878 years to pay-off.
Stay tuned to the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT every day, your one-stop shop for World Cup news.
Arteta now leading coaching pack for Arsenal
Sports Burst reckons that this summer is going to be a touch hectic, what with Belgium winning the World Cup and $245 billion being spent in the transfer window.
There looks like being quite a managerial merry-go-round as well. In fact, it started spinning on Monday with PSG announcing that Thomas Tuchel would be the man responsible for telling Neymar that his birthday celebrations would be downplayed next February with the Eiffel Tower being lit up for just the two nights.
Mikel Arteta is now the front runner to take over the vacant Arsenal job, with Luis Enrique and Massimo Allegri having removed their respective interest. The Spaniard is currently serving as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City having spent five years as a player with the Gunners. More importantly, Arteta will be cheap and not that demanding. Everton bosses are expected to make a decision over the future – or lack of one – of Big Sam Allardyce over the next 48 hours.
Italian media is reporting a meeting to be held on Wednesday to decide the future of Mauricio Sarri, the current Napoli coach who led his team to second place this season, but may be wanting a move away…to Chelsea?
Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the latest from the coaching carrousel.
Warriors take control as Cavs have second go at Celtics
No such Cavalier style play-off problems for the imperious Golden State Warriors who won their opening clash, deep in the heart of Texas, in the series against the Houston Rockets. Kevin Durant led the way with 37 points.
The Cavs are having another crack at the Boston Celtics – well, first off trying not to lose by so much as the first game in the series.
Over in the world of hockey and the Las Vegas Golden Knights have tied their play-off series against the Winnipeg Jets. The two teams now head to Arizona tying at 1-1.
Remember that there is some top-class women’s tennis right now on beIN SPORTS with Maria Sharapova making her bow in the Italian Open.
WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?
The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.