Former Everton director of football Marcel Brands has recalled how he had to stop Farhad Moshiri from signing Mario Balotelli
Marcel Brands claims he had to stop Farhad Moshiri from signing Kop flop Mario Balotelli to partner Moise Kean up front for Everton. Kean, who cost the Blues £25million from Juventus in 2019, proved a major disappointment both on and off the pitch, netting just twice in 32 Premier League matches but Brands, who was director of football at Goodison Park between May 2018-December 2021, has revealed that Moshiri was prepared to pair him in attack with Balotelli, despite his fellow Italy international already having a wretched spell on Merseyside across Stanley Park with rivals Liverpool.
The maverick frontman, who displayed a ‘Why always me?’ t-shirt during his first spell in England with Manchester City, at least picked up a Premier League winners’ medal from his time at the Etihad Stadium but despite being snapped up as a replacement for another hugely controversial star Luis Suarez, he produced a solitary strike in 16 Premier League games for the Reds.
That didn’t stop Everton’s now wantaway majority shareholder Moshiri – the man who would later go against both Brands’ and chairman Bill Kenwright’s advice to hire former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez – from being prepared to spend big on Balotelli though.
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Sport Witness cite Brands as telling Algemeen Dagblad that the late Mino Raiola, the so-called ‘super agent’ who represented both Balotelli and Kean, tossed him a googly when Everton were wrapping up a deal to sign the then Juve wonderkid. Now president at PSV Eindhoven, he said: “Mino said: ‘Why not bring Mario Balotelli too, guys?’ That seemed to Raiola to be a great strike duo for the Premier League.
“They were both fast, skilful and strong, and he thought they would also be complementary. After a while he had substantiated his story so beautifully that Moshiri also completely liked it.”
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However, Brands rejected the idea, knowing he was already getting a tricky character in Kean and adding Balotelli to the mix “was practically asking for trouble”. The Dutchman recalls he explained as much to Raiola, who it seems took it well.
Brands said: “After the game, I went to eat something with Mino. ‘You’re beautiful you, Brands’, Mino said.
“Moshiri wanted to pull out his wallet. But I was responsible for the club’s technical policy, for the composition of the selection. The great thing was, if you told Mino the truth to his face, he could handle it very well in the end. But he was super smart, if you let go of the steering wheel for a moment, he would sail in the other direction.”
