Mario Balotelli scores FOURTH Nice goal!

The controversial Italian forward can’t stop scoring in France, but his agent says “he will absolutely return to the Premier League.

Mario Balotelli scored his fourth goal for Nice in only his third game for the club as they ran away with the Derby de la Côte d’Azur.

The Eagles romped into a 2-0 half-time lead after Paul Baysse broke the deadlock and Balotelli doubled their lead to leave the Principality club reeling. Then Balo scored again in the second half to bury the Monagesques and steal the headlines.

While Monaco looked in good shape as they stunned Spurs at Wembley, it was their turn to be on the end of a surprise at the Allianz Riviera.

Lucien Favre’s side have been playing well and in good form recently, sitting in fourth approaching this derby, but Monaco were second and have found their scoring touch.

Balotelli was a wildcard addition to the Niçois squad as they look to revive his career like they did with Hatem Ben Arfa, and his agent Mino Raiola is already tipping him to return to the Premier League – where he failed with Manchester City and Liverpool – and prove his doubters wrong.

“If he proves he can become stable at Nice and score goals then imagine how attractive he would be to a Premier League manager next summer as a free agent.

“France needs him, like they needed Zlatan. He is good for the league but he will absolutely return to the Premier League,” he said.

Raiola also revealed that he partially blamed himself for what happened to ‘Super Mario’.

“I should not have given him his way when he asked to leave City,” Raiola said.

“It is the one big mistake I made. Mario was unhappy and I should have said, ‘You’re feeling s***? You don’t like your job? Tough, grow up, get on with it’. I needed to be cruel to be kind but I was too nice.

“Football needs to be his priority – to be a top athlete, you make the sacrifice and after 11 or 12 years, you redress the balance then lead the life you want.

“Pavel Nedved, who was one of my first players, had that focus to be a success and he was a model family man.

“Mario didn’t have that focus, then he got a reputation and if you have a reputation you don’t have credibility. That makes it more difficult.”

Source: Mirror UK