AC Milan president – and political candidate – Silvio Berlusconi has laughed off suggestions that his £19m swoop for Mario Balotelli was motivated by political reasons.
Berlusconi had recently labelled his new striker as a “bad apple”, only to quickly backtrack when it became apparent there was an opportunity to sign him.
The signing of Balotelli has been likened by some to the moves made by Berlusconi to keep Kaka from moving to Manchester City in January 2009, which also took place just before national elections. Kaka was of course subsequently sold to Real Madrid a few months later.
“Is [signing] Balotelli worth 2% of the vote? I don’t think so,” Berlusconi said when queried about it. “In any event that’s not why we bought him.”
The Milan president confirmed instead that the move was part of a strategy to rejuvenate the side, saying that, “In the next two years, we want to bring Milan back to the levels they have been at over my tenure as president when we have won everything.”
When asked if Balotelli would now be put forward as a candidate for his party, Berlusconi joked, “we thought about it, but decided against it.”
On the field, Balotelli is already off the mark for his new club, scoring one and setting up another in a 10-0 friendly win over Darfo Boario. He is expected to make his official debut on Sunday against Udinese.
