@FootynewsMario Balotelli apparently treated Inter's no-pay-if-you-lose policy as a suggestion rather than an actual rule. ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIĆ tells it like this: after the club dropped two matches in three days, Balotelli simply didn't turn up for training. Mourinho went looking and couldn't track him down. Then, half an hour later, the president walked into the facility looking ready to combust, except he had Balotelli trailing right beside him. The president turned to the squad and asked whether Mario actually knew how to read Italian. Someone said yes. The president's reply: curious, because Balotelli had just barged into his office asking for his salary. The whole no-pay thing didn't move Mario one bit. His position was that even if the team lost a hundred times over, he wanted his money immediately. So the president agreed Balotelli would get paid on time from that point forward, but warned that nobody else should try the same move. It ended up being the first time the squad saw any wages after those two defeats. And then the football logic kicked in: the team started feeding Balotelli the ball far more often, because keeping him content clearly mattered more than keeping the president calm. The man understood leverage before most people understood the offside trap.

@FootynewsMario Balotelli apparently treated Inter's no-pay-if-you-lose policy as a suggestion rather than an actual rule. ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIĆ tells it like this: after the club dropped two matches in three days, Balotelli simply didn't turn up for training. Mourinho went looking and couldn't track him down. Then, half an hour later, the president walked into the facility looking ready to combust, except he had Balotelli trailing right beside him. The president turned to the squad and asked whether Mario actually knew how to read Italian. Someone said yes. The president's reply: curious, because Balotelli had just barged into his office asking for his salary. The whole no-pay thing didn't move Mario one bit. His position was that even if the team lost a hundred times over, he wanted his money immediately. So the president agreed Balotelli would get paid on time from that point forward, but warned that nobody else should try the same move. It ended up being the first time the squad saw any wages after those two defeats. And then the football logic kicked in: the team started feeding Balotelli the ball far more often, because keeping him content clearly mattered more than keeping the president calm. The man understood leverage before most people understood the offside trap.