Chelsea set to bring former Man City striker back to England

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There are few characters that English football roundly misses when they vacate the country. Jose Mourinho was one larger than life figure that the majority of the footballing community yearned to return, and now he’s set to bring back another.

Both on and off the field, Mario Balotelli was as entertaining to the neutral as he was frustrating for his employers during his time at Manchester City. Eventually he tipped then-manager Roberto Mancini over the edge and was sold to AC Milan.

His arrival at the San Siro was coupled with a flurry of goals and the striker has helped himself to an impressive 18 Serie A strikes in 26 games since landing at the club last January.

As is customary with the 23-year-old, though, he’s made his increasing unhappiness at Milan public in the hope of engineering a move away from a team that is struggling in the pursuit of the Scudetto this January.

Mourinho’s need for a new striker is obvious, with the current trio of Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba totalling just seven league goals combined.

Balotelli has one less than that in Serie A this season and although his final fling in England saw him score just one Premier League goal in 14 outings, his experience of the division won’t hold back his impact should he return.

Mourinho and Balotelli have obviously already worked together at Inter Milan, adding considerable petrol to this particularly fiery transfer rumour, and The Special One’s affection for the player despite his many misdemeanours is clear.

With AC Milan also far from rolling in dough and Chelsea, who are 6/10 to beat Hull in their next Premier League outing, dripping in funds a weighty offer could just be enough to prise the Italian striker out of Milan and fling him towards the King’s Road.

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