BRENDAN Rodgers insists there is little room for "rascals" at the Liberty Stadium — but he could put up with Mario Balotelli. Swansea City come up against one of the stars of the Premier League season when they host Manchester City this Sunday. Balotelli is a brilliantly gifted player, one who, at the tender of age 21, is among the five best on the planet according to Roberto Mancini. But so far at least, the Balotelli story has not been all about his contributions on the football pitch. The Italian got a telling off from his manager this week after he was spotted emerging from a Merseyside strip club in the early hours of last Friday morning. City were in action the next day. Balotelli played, and scored, in the win over Bolton. The late night in Liverpool was not exactly Balotelli's first offence since he joined City for around £20 million from Inter Milan in the summer of 2010. There have been numerous scrapes, with Balotelli appearing almost as often at the front of the papers as the back. There was a car crash — after which, so the story goes, Balotelli was asked why he had £5,000 in cash in the glovebox. "Because I am rich," he reportedly responded. There was the incident with the fireworks in the bathroom which led, not surprisingly, to a fire and a lengthy stint in a Manchester hotel. There have been various issues on the field, Balotelli sending his manager ballistic when he tried an outrageous finish in a pre-season friendly and finished up with egg on his face, the ball going wide. There have been three red cards in City colours, plus the recent ban for an alleged stamp on Scott Parker. And there are the various tales about what Balotelli gets up to in Manchester, some of which have been confirmed and some, sadly, have not. To mention just a few, Balotelli walked into a university library and paid off all the students' fines, he popped up at a petrol station and covered full tanks all round. He put 24 homeless people up in the Manchester Hilton for a night and drove around the city dressed as Father Christmas throwing money out of his car. Then there is talk of the squabbles he has started on the training ground and of how he used his iPad while on the bench in an Italian international. He once wore an AC Milan shirt on television while playing for Inter, a move which, funnily enough, irritated his own club's fans. In short, Balotelli is a complex character. "He is certainly an interesting one," Rodgers says. "Some players have that kind of personality and there's not a lot you can do — they will always be high maintenance. "For a manager it's hard work dealing with that kind of player, because your ideal situation is to have players who are in love with football and devote their life to football. "Having said that, you also have to understand that sometimes the top players, the geniuses, have a flaw somewhere." Rodgers smiles, like the rest of us, when some of Balotelli's apparent acts of extreme kindness are mentioned. "There's no doubt the kid's got a good heart," the Swansea manager adds. "I have spoken to people at Manchester City and I have heard all the stories about how he walks into garages and pays for people's petrol and things like that. "It sounds like there's a heart of gold in there, and that's why they persist with him and persevere. "Some players are rascals, but they can be good rascals. "If they are not the good kind you have a problem, but you can put up with it if they are — and as long as you do not have too many of them in your squad." Mancini suggested this week that Balotelli ought to marry his girlfriend, that he should settle down and concentrate on his football career. Rodgers describes that idea as "absolutely spot on", but Balotelli promptly insisted that he was in no rush to tie the knot. For the moment, it seems, the enigmatic young forward is happy with his lot — even if he rarely looks too bothered when he scores a goal. "I hope he is not thinking that he will settle down when he is 28 or 29," Rodgers says. "The idea for him should be to focus on his football, because there is no doubt that he is a massive talent. "I remember speaking to Fabio Borini about him. "He has played with him for the Italian under-21s, and said he was the best player he'd ever worked with. "He just said he was incredible." On the evidence of his stint at City, incredible looks a fairly good description. Much of what Balotelli gets up to, after all, is hard to believe.
