OneFootball
Dan Burke·19 November 2019
OneFootball
Dan Burke·19 November 2019
Micah Richards says Mario Balotelli got into trouble so often at Manchester City that that the club would have fined him over ÂŁ100,000 by Christmas.
Balotelli might well have asked âWhy always me?â after looking at his payslip at the end of the month, but former team-mate Richards says the Italian striker paid the price for being âdozyâ.
Richards gave an insight into Balotelliâs tardiness when asked by BBC Radio 5 Live about a list of fines which recently leaked out of the Chelsea camp.
âÂŁ20,000 late for the starting of training â that is a lot. But everything else seems to be in sync,â said the former City and Aston Villa defender.
âBut Balotelli was always late.
âWe used to give all of our money to charities so by Christmas time weâd have ÂŁ100,000 or ÂŁ150,000 in there just from Balotelli.
âHe would be in the building. Say we had a meeting upstairs â heâd just be downstairs relaxing. Heâd come to the meeting but he was just a bit dozy.â
Richards also revealed that in his role as City vice-captain, he was also made to awkwardly collect the fines from the other players by club captain Vincent Kompany.
âKompany, heâs busy isnât he? He just looks like that person anyway.
âHe always kept a track of the fines and because I was sort of vice-captain, one of the leaders in the dressing room, heâd tell me to take charge of it.
âBut Iâm not going to say to the manager âOh player was late today, oh player didnât put his bib in the washing machineâ. Iâm not going to do that.
âSo it was only if Vincent Kompany caught you, so the lads were avoiding him. Iâm not a snitch!â
âYou could appeal it as well. You had to go with Kompany into the managerâs office.
âHe had a fine sheet logged of all the fines. He was like a schoolteacher, a headmaster. One of those guys that when you see him, you just turn the other way.â