Milan, August 26

Some ‘tifosi’ might be licking their lips, but for some pundits AC Milan fans got the rawest deal on Tuesday when Mario Balotelli became the latest Premier League flop to return ‘home’ in a quest to resurrect his career.

Of them all, Balotelli’s return to Milan on a one-year loan deal following a disastrous first season with Liverpool is by far the most controversial. Loved and hated in equal measure, the 25-year-old continues to divide fans and mystify the pundits who believe there is still so much more to come from a player whose controversies far outweigh his true achievements in the game.

“Let’s stop talking about him, he’s never achieved anything,” former AC Milan midfielder Zvonimir Boban, now a respected pundit for Sky Sport Italia, said last season.

And not many Liverpool fans would disagree -- after a season in which Balotelli failed to spark and, with memories still fresh after three notorious years at Manchester City, created headlines for all the wrong reasons. He took 13 games to hit his first league goal for the Reds and Balotelli was then suspended for one game and fined £25,000 for posting an image on social media which appeared to contain anti-Semitic and racist references. Now, Milan have taken a gamble that Balotelli will morph into ‘SuperMario’.

Like many of his international peers, Balotelli is keen to secure regular football ahead of next summer’s European Championships. Although he avoided that specific question on Tuesday, he said: “I’m happy to be back. This club is in my heart and I always hoped to play here again.” Still, he must have got the chills when reading the reaction in Italy to his return.