Mario Balotelli’s transfer to Liverpool included a bizarre clause that the striker had to comply with in order to cash in on £1million.
The Italian made a return to English football in 2014 when he joined the Merseyside club after a one-year stint with AC Milan. The Reds paid £16million for the former Manchester City star with hopes that he’d cushion the blow of losing Luis Suarez to Barcelona the same summer.
Balotelli’s mercurial personality as well as penchant for getting sent off meant Liverpool decided to insert a bizarre clause in his contract to deter him from picking up bookings.
According to Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football, the 33-year-old had a clause inserted into his contract that would see him receive him £1 million-per-year if he was able to avoid being sent off three times during each season he played for the Premier League giants.
The clause, albeit a strange one, certainly made sense at the time considering Balotelli had been sent off seven times before his arrival at Anfield.
The unique clause read: “If during each season of the term of this contract the player is not dismissed from the field of play on three or more occasions for violent conduct, spitting, for using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures and/or for dissent… then on the June 30 at the end of each season he shall receive a bonus payment of £1 million.”
While Balotelli spent just a year at Liverpool where he scored a mere four goals in 28 games, he left Merseyside with an extra £1million after managing to avoid picking up a red card during the 2014/15 season. It was certainly a forgettable moment in Balotelli’s career as he re-joined AC Milan a year later before securing a permanent move to Nice.
The former Italy international is currently enjoying a second stint with Turkish outfit Adana Demirspor where he’s scored three goals in five games.
