Five things we hope aren't listed in the behaviour clauses of Balotelli's Liverpool contract

If you were to come up with a poster boy for the word ‘mercurial’ (the word itself, not the popular football boots) then it would probably be Mario Balotelli.

He may also be about the most interesting footballer to come along in years, and he looks poised to make a bit of a shock move back to the Premier League to join Liverpool. There are rumours that his contract could also include clauses that stipulate sanctions and would reprimand him if he steps out of line, and that’s not just because they think it might be a good idea to keep him on his toes, rather he tends to have a bit of a habit when it comes to getting in to trouble.

His track record is not great when it comes to behaviour, mainly because he’s a guy that just likes to have a laugh and enjoy himself, and he’s a highly paid young man in the media spotlight, so he’s more likely to end up getting a bit of attention for his antics. Here are some of our favourite Balotelli moments from the past that we hope they don't make part of the clauses in his contract:

No more totally unnecessary bits of skill

This was brilliant, even though it didn’t work at all and caused his manager to flip the lid. Still great though.

Learn to use a bib

If he can pull more gems like 'Mario Bibotelli' out of Robbie Savage’s mouth as further proof that he’s not funny at all, we’ll accept him not figuring out how to use a bib.

No more outrageous cars

Mario likes his cars to be distinctive. Really distinctive.

Pic via NESN.com

Stop taking shortcuts

Balotelli doesn’t appear to enjoy training all that much, and if he can get away with it, he’s going to skip out the exercises he doesn’t like.

Stop playing with fireworks

It’s a bad idea to mess around with fireworks, and Mario knows that now after nearly burning his house down. But he did end up becoming the spokesperson for firework safety, so it all worked out in the end. He learned his lesson.

Pic via The Guardian

While those are the few things that we hope they can’t take that out of his game, as they say, there are plenty of outbursts and pieces of behaviour on the pitch that do cost him and his team-mates, and Mourinho outlines that perfectly in this little anecdote.