Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini says he is '101 per cent' certain that Mario Balotelli will be staying with the club this summer.Balotelli is continually being linked with a move away from City, not because of his goal-scoring but everything else that surrounds him.
His off-field behaviour has seen him hit the front-page headlines as much as the back this term, whilst his disciplinary record has left a lot to be desired with nine yellow cards and two reds to his name.
But he has also scored 17 goals and played a crucial part in City's title success, including setting up the decisive goal for Sergio Aguero in the weekend's dramatic 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers.
And Mancini has no doubts about Balotelli's future at the Etihad.
"Mario is clear and I reiterate: Balotelli will remain in Manchester at 101 per cent," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"In the last fifteen minutes against QPR he was decisive.
"And he'll have a great European Championship too. I hope that Mario will be Italy's leader because he is the best Italian striker.
"He has only to turn on his brain. It's his only problem. "
Mancini continued in Corriere dello Sport: "If he understands that he must stop with certain behaviours, he'll become like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.
"Sometimes he goes out of his mind. In the Premier League there are worse players, but they just don't have the name Balotelli and they haven't the spotlight on them. Such as that [Joey] Barton who beat anyone on Sunday afternoon.
"I will bet again on Balotelli, even though he made me really angry. I said he would never wear the City shirt but I knew that was not true.
"I'm trying to help him, I cannot do more."
Tevez
Mancini also spoke about Carlos Tevez, again admitting he does not know if he will remain.
He said: "Tevez? I took him to my house and I said: 'apologise and start over'. He didn't, he wanted to leave, he escaped to Argentina and returned here only when the move to AC Milan failed.
"So he rethought and gave us a hand. Will he go away? I don't know what he plans to do, but I don't rule out surprises. For me he's a top player and he knows it. "
Mancini also played down reports linking the club with a summer swoop for Zlatan Ibrahimovic - insisting that although a fan of the AC Milan striker, he had not thought about the transfer market yet.
"Ibrahimovic is a great player, but I think AC Milan don't want to sell him," he said.
"I'm honest: we have not yet thought about the market. In the last five weeks we thought only of the league."
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