Mancini assures Mario Balotelli “is a bit more mature” now

Italy CT Roberto Mancini assures Mario Balotelli “is a bit more mature” now, having recalled him to the squad.

Super Mario hasn’t played for his country since the 2014 World Cup, but he’s in the Azzurri squad for the upcoming friendlies with Saudi Arabia, France and the Netherlands.

“He said ‘hello boss’,” Mancini said, putting on a Brescia accent when asked about Balotelli in today’s Press conference.

“We haven’t talked yet though. It’s been four years since we last met and he’s matured a bit since then. He has kids now and I think that helps.

“Balotelli is a special case, when he was very young he was already a great player and then maybe he didn’t maintain what he was doing at the beginning.

“I have confidence though, because he’s done very well in the past two years.”

Mancio was then asked about the difficulties he’d face going forward.

“I'm not a magician, I don’t have a magic wand. It’ll take some time, it’s clear that there are a lot of lads with talent.

“I’m confident, these lads can give us a lot. Some of them haven’t even played in Europe yet though, so it’ll be more tiring but the national team has always managed to improve the players.

“Victories have always come when no-one expected them.

“We have to win right away because we’re Italy, we always have to try to win even when we’re not favourites.

“Some players will have to play all three [friendlies], we had 30 players and we’ve lost almost five, we’ll need to see how [Simone] Zaza and [Ciro] Immobile are.

“We are waiting, they have muscular problems, we’re waiting for the reports to see if it’s worth taking the risk.

“Everyone will play, and the youngsters will get a chance to play against France and the Netherlands.

“Clearly if we could count on a bloc, like those of Juventus or Milan in the past, it would be easier. If not we’ll try to do well anyway.”

Mattia Perin could join Juventus this summer, where he’d have to play second fiddle to Wojciech Szczesny.

“Obviously for a goalkeeper not to play is problematic, but I think he has such quality that he can play wherever he goes,” Mancini assured.

“There’s no starter [in goal], I have to get to know them because I’ve only seen them playing on TV.”

Maurizio Sarri has been linked with Zenit St Petersburg, the club Mancini left to take over the CT role.

“I was happy at Zenit, I had a wonderful experience.”