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Italy international Mario Balotelli was reportedly fined by OGC Nice for coming back from pre-season overweight. The 28-year-old apparently showed up to training weighing 100kg.
Balotelli has recently been struggling to overcome an injury and even missed a game each for Nice and Italy. The former Manchester City man returned to Nice after his reported move to Ligue 1 outfit Marseille could not be materialized.
Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivere spoke of the striker's condition at the start of the season.
According to Football Italia, Rivere said, "Mario will have a great season because we’ll put him in the best condition and because he’s a great player.”
“However, Nice don’t have the habit of treating certain players differently. Mario played himself offside.”
“To be a great player, you have to always be fit. Balotelli is useless in this condition.”
"Mario will have a great season because we will put him in the best conditions and because he is a great player."
The star has been far from impressive recently and was even booed off when substituted during Italy's draw with Poland, with the head of the Polish FA Zibi Boniek saying: “I wouldn’t send on a player who’s 15kg overweight."
“To say that Balotelli worked for the team is an outright lie. No-one said he was unfit. I don’t understand why that wasn’t noted."
The striker has not taken the reports too well and responded to the news by posting the funny picture on social media with the caption 'I just took this selfie! All doubts cast aside!'
Balotelli also took to Instagram to slam the journalist that made the accusations. In a post, he said, "Me fined for being overweight? 1. Look at the physique I've got! It's laughable that you talk of me being overweight."
"2. Now go **** yourselves with your invented garbage! Now you even say I've been fined? Whoever wrote that ought to lose their job."
Twitter has since exploded with responses to the situation:
