By Chris Wright

His eminence Mario Balotelli has been speaking to the plebs and mere mortals again, telling all and sundry that he wants to sign for AC Milan at some point in the near future...again.

Speaking to Italian rag Extra Time, Balotelli said:

"Do I envy (Antonio) Cassano for going to AC Milan?

Manchester City were dealt a big blow ahead of their top four showdown with Arsenal as both David Silva and Mario Balotelli will miss the game at the Emirates.

Silva, who limped off during Saturday's win over Blackpool with a knee injury could be out for two week according to City Manager Roberto Mancini:

"We have a big problem, because we have Mario and David injured and not available for tomorrow.

Pots, kettles etc Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has simultaneously lost his temper and his irony detector. The Portugal international has spoken out against Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli for his constant media outbursts. In a media outburst, Ronaldo said: "He is a good player but he has to speak less and play more.

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has made more headlines off the pitch than on it. Here are some of his choicer quotes.

A repeat of last season's 7-1 romp at the Bridge? Don't count on it. Hell, right now, I'll take a stoppage time goal of the most outrageous variety, off an ass, whatever.

Preferably from the Honey Monster, though.

Who: Aston Villa
What: Premier League, Round 21
Where: Stamford Bridge (41,841)
When: 2 January, 1:30pm local time (8:30pm EST)
How: Fox Soccer Channel (DirecTV 619, Dish Network 149)

Happy New Year's.

Manchester City have once again made headlines in the Premier League by reportedly signing one of the most promising young players in the world, Edin Dzeko, from the German club Wolfsburg.

Like many of City's purchases, the Bosnian striker will not come cheap, with the transfer fee coming to a reported £27 million.

Liverpool has made an enquiry to sign Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
After falling out of favour at Eastlands, and getting involved in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Kolo Toure, it is understood that Adebayor will be allowed to leave club, and Liverpool have expressed an interest in him, according to Sky Sports.

Arsenal o Man City 0
(Premiership)

There is having a penchant for defensive midfielders, there is playing cautiously and hitting teams on the break, and then there the sort of display City put in last night. Dour, dull but effective, it was the single most negative performance I've seen in many years, from an expensively assembled side with plenty of available attacking talent (ignore the absences of Silva and Balotelli, when you spend hundreds of millions on ready made players and leave the likes of Adam Johnson out, you cannot complain about a couple of injuries).

I am back in the States less than 24 hours and my MYSQL database melts, conveniently after I had just completed a massive tome on Mario Balotelli. Yes, that Mario Balotelli. The tech support stinks, I have to restart WP all over again, and apparently I am supposed to "back things up." But where I come from, "backing things up" involves certain dance moves that are NSFW and would probably burn your eyes.

I am back in the States less than 24 hours and my MYSQL database melts, conveniently after I had just completed a massive tome on Mario Balotelli. Yes, that Mario Balotelli. The tech support stinks, I have to restart WP all over again, and apparently I am supposed to "back things up." But where I come from, "backing things up" involves certain dance moves that are NSFW and would probably burn your eyes.

Mario Balotelli. Knee. Injury. Again. [read more]

How to land on the bench real quick.

[101gg]

• Fixing the world, one hug and corner at a time. (Reuters)
• Arsenal's new blueprint. (The DA)
• Mysconceptions and Mario Balotelli. (Futfanatico)
• Crossing the Merseyside divide. (The Spoiler)
• WWIII: Sepp v Qatar.

Calcio Thoughts is back with it's first edition of the New Year! It's been a long time since the last one, and the questions might be a little dated, but I'll provide the most current answer to the best of my abilities. If you have a calcio question, comment, thought, or anything you'd like to see in Calcio Thoughts 11, feel free to ask it in the comments section of this post, the comments section of the upcoming Weekend that Was post, or simply email it to calciothoughts@gmail.

We know what an extraordinary talent City have on their hands in Mr Balotelli. He is however, guilty of making the headlines on the front pages as often, if not more than, on the back pages. He has come out and proclaimed their new front line of himself, Tevez and Dzeko as better than that of Barcelona's and Real's.

The front page of Tuesdays Gazzetta dello Sport had the adoring face of Mario Balotelli spread from top to bottom. The former Inter ace was the subject of an in-depth interview by the pink paper and it contained a number of gems from the Manchester City striker. He may be the scourge of many in Italian football but the super confident Balotelli did not hold back in the recent interview.

Off The Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories. This week, Jermaine Pennant forgets he owns a Porsche, Wayne Bridge makes the worst debut in history, Mario Balotelli says Mario Balotelli is the best in the world and Diego Maradona takes on Carlos Valderrama at five-a-side.

Manchester City have sent Mario Balotelli to a Vermont-based knee conditioning specialist in an attempt to resolve the injury that has forced the Italian forward to miss three months of the season.