Agent claims PL star flopped because Balotelli turned him into a badboy

Mario Balotelli is the reason Marko Arnautovic flopped at Inter Milan, according to his former agent Rob Groener.

The Austrian attacker is currently at Stoke City, where he enjoyed a very productive 2016/17 campaign – scoring 11 Premier League goals.

His stock was once not so high though, and Groener reckons his relationship with our wantaway forward Balotelli caused it.

Arnautovic moved to Inter Milan for the 2009/10 season but couldn’t get in the side and was involved in a number of unsavoury off field incidents.

“It did not help, of course, that Marko arrived injured at Inter and needed about three months to get fit,” Groener told Voetbal International.

“When he became friends with Mario Balotelli, it obviously did not make things any better.

“Football more and more took a back seat.”

Balotelli endured a miserable loan spell at AC Milan last term, and Liverpool are doing all they can to get him off the books before he has to report back at Melwood for pre-season.

He’s utterly surplus to requirements at Liverpool; not just because his style will suit Jurgen Klopp even less than it did Brendan Rodgers – but because of his attitude. We are not privy to say whether he was a bad influence on Arnautovic, but we wouldn’t be at all surprised if it proved to be the case.

One year of Balotelli at Liverpool was plenty.

SEE MORE: Liverpool desperately trying to offload three first-team players (Telegraph)

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