Balotelli Completes Transfer to Manchester

Mario Balotelli has finalized his huge-money transfer to Manchester City

Striker Mario Balotelli has finalized his huge-money transfer from Inter Milan to Manchester City by inking a five-year contract after passing a medical and physical exam.

Balotelli, nicknamed “Super Mario”, had won his first Italian Cup in the 1-0 loss by Ivory Coast last Tuesday. The promising young striker had been a prospect of Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini who gave Balotelli his debut when he helmed San Siro.

The deal for the 20-year old was the fifth player signing for the club and cost Manchester City around 29 million euros or 37 million US dollars.

Manchester City’s total costs for the signings which include Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov, and Yaya Toure, has now reached over 120 million euros or 153 million US dollars.

“I think that Mario is one of the best players of his age in Europe and I am very happy to be working with him again,” Mancini wrote in the club’s official website.

“His style of play will suit the Premier League and City fans will enjoy watching him. He is still so young there is a big chance for him to improve. He is a string and exciting player,” the manager added.

With the new contract of the promising striker sealed, City can now focus on its pursuit of Aston Villa’s midfielder James Milner.

Asked to comment about the possibility of Milner joining City, Mancini said, “We need another two or three days for this situation. We need everyone to be happy.”

Aston Villa reportedly wants City midfielder Stephen Ireland in exchange for Milner but City is still considering the offer.

City’s expensive signings have prompted rumors of releasing some of its players from the club with strikers Felipe Caicedo and Craig Bellamy supposedly going to West Ham, and Fulham and Tottenham respectively.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Saturday August 14 2010, 1:26 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0