Man City Striker Mario Balotelli Runs Out Of Options In Fight Against Club

Italian striker MARIO BALOTELLI’s broken relationship with Man City has reached the stage where the club has "eschewed disciplinary guidelines agreed with the Professional Footballers’ Association and Premier League to punish the forward for repeated on-field transgressions," according to Mark Ogden of the London TELEGRAPH. With the player "likely to continue his action against the club should a Premier League tribunal find in City’s favour on Wednesday, the lack of potential buyers emerging for Balotelli next month has raised the prospect of a divisive legal battle between the two parties running into the new year." Balotelli "has been fined a total of two weeks’ wages, (£340,000, $552,6000) for missing more than 20% of City’s fixtures last season due to suspension." Man City has "applied the sanction and issued an internal charge of misconduct, on the basis that Balotelli has breached his contract" (TELEGARPH, 12/17).