Nice coach Patrick Vieira said that Mario Balotelli wants to leave the club. Vieira had a poor start as Nice manager as the club lost 1-0 to newly-promoted Stade Reims in their Ligue 1 opener. Balotelli did not feature during the match because he did not turn up for pre-season training.
About Balotelli’s future at the club, the France legend said, “The player wants to leave, so it’s unlikely he’ll remain here. We want players whose desire it is to go forward with the club. It’s a very complicated and difficult situation, so the club will try to do whatever is possible to help him leave.”
Balotelli came to Nice from Liverpool in 2016 and has scored 43 goals in 66 matches so far.
Mario Balotelli has been linked to clubs like Marseille and Napoli. However, Napoli President Aurelio de Laurentis brushed aside rumors of the Italian’s future. He said, “[Dries] Mertens will not leave, [Angel] Di Maria will not come and as for Balotelli I’ve been saying no for years. It’s very false that he will come to Napoli.”
Nice’s next league game is against Caen on Saturday.
