Why I finally called Balotelli - Conte

Thegoalmac can reveal that Italy boss Antonio Conte has revealed his reasoning behind calling up out-of-form striker Mario Balotelli: he wants to personally see how good the Liverpool star is first-hand.
Continue for what he said and tell us what you think?

"The simple answer is that Italy, after the disappointment of the World Cup, are trying to build something beautiful that we can bring to our qualification campaign and hopefully a good European Championship," he told reporters on Monday.

"It was planned that Balotelli would be called to be evaluated, because you cannot judge [players] on hearsay. Surely it’s right that we assess him closely.

"I prefer to evaluate players because it’s right to test them and see whether they share any technical and tactical similarities with my idea of the game and their attitude.

"He plays as a starter for Liverpool, many other players aren’t even starters. Perhaps it’s for the best that he doesn’t come during good form. He’ll be available for the national team and I’ll be looking at him closely.

"The same goes for Alessio Cerci. They both have assets but are finding it hard abroad, and it’s my duty as a coach to assess what they can give to the national team.

"Excluding players from the outset seems nonsensical to me. Here, all the players are equal, Mario is one of five attackers. If he is good, he will play, otherwise he is on the bench or in the stands."

Should Balotelli feature for Italy over the next fortnight, it will be his first international appearances since the World Cup in the summer when Italy were embarrassingly knocked out at the group stage.