Besiktas are in advanced talks with Italian international striker Mario Balotelli to sign him, despite the reluctance of the Turkish club's coach, the country's sports press reported on Wednesday.
According to the main Turkish sports daily, Fanatik, Besiktas has offered him an annual salary of two million euros to attract Balotelli, without a team after leaving Brescia, and currently the Istanbul club is negotiating the bonuses with the attacker's agent, Mino Raiola.
As a sign of the growing enthusiasm among the followers of the Istanbul ‘Black Eagles’, thousands of Internet users on Twitter in recent days have asked the attacker to join the club using the hashtag ‘Come to Besiktas.
Besiktas, 15 times Turkish champions, qualified for the Champions League play-offs, an attraction for ‘Super Mario’, who turns 30 this Wednesday, after a difficult season in Brescia that ended in dismissal. .
But Balotelli's indiscipline – accused of having skipped several Brescia training sessions – and the irregularity of his motivating performances to Besiktas coach Sergen Yalçin, prefer to hire a more reliable striker, according to the Turkish daily Milliyet.
It is not uncommon in Turkey for a club president to impose a signing on his coach, illustrating the gap that sometimes exists between commercial or advertising interests and athletic performance.
Referring to Balotelli, Besiktas president Ahmet Nur Cebi said on Monday that the club's doors were “open to all good players who fit within our budget.”
Back in Italy last year after his experience in French Ligue 1 (Nice, then Marseille), Balotelli only played 19 games for Brescia, for just five goals. This figure has left a bitter taste in the Lombard city, where the former striker from Inter, Manchester City, Liverpool and Milan, among other clubs, grew up.