Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has capped off another memorable week with revelations of prostitutes followed by a roadside prang in the space of just 24 hours.

The Italian hit headlines on Wednesday, when his agent, Mino Raiola, confirmed that he had enjoyed a ‘brief involvement’ with Jennifer Thompson, who shot to notoriety in 2010 when she alleged that she had been paid £1,200-a-night to have sex with Wayne Rooney, who plays United, while his wife, Colleen, was pregnant with their son, Kai.

The affair is said to have taken place at Balotelli’s Cheshire mansion in February, just two days before he publicly declared his love for his girlfriend, Raffaella Fico, after opening the scoring for City during their 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Revelations of Balotelli’s liaison with the call girl were made all the more remarkable by the fact that he had taunted Miss Thompson about her fling with England hit man Rooney when he saw her in a Manchester restaurant last year by chanting ‘Rooney! Rooney!’

Little over 24 hours after his agent’s revelation, Balotelli was involved in further drama as his white Bentley collided with a Vauxhall Corsa in the Deansgate Locks area of Manchester. The 21-year-old was unharmed but his female passenger taken to hospital as a precaution while the driver of the other car also emerged from the incident, which City insists was not the player’s fault, unscathed.

The incidents are merely the latest in a growing list of controversies since Balotelli’s €22million move from Internazionale in summer 2010.

He was involved in an on-field squabble with team mate Aleksandar Kolarov over who would take a free kick during City’s draw with Sunderland in the English Premier League last weekend, which saw the Abu Dhabi-owned club’s bid to wrestle the title from local rivals Manchester United falter further.Manager Roberto Mancini later revealed that he had considered substituting his compatriot as early as the fifth minute of the 3-3 thriller.

He was fined £250,000 by City at the beginning of March after being photographed leaving a Liverpool strip club in the early hours, less than 48 hours before his side were due to take on Bolton Wanderers, while in January he was given a retrospective four-match suspension by the Football Association for stamping on the head of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Scott Parker during their clash at the Etihad Stadium, which City won 3-2 thanks to a stoppage time penalty from Balotelli.

Last October, on the eve of the Manchester derby, he was forced to flee his Cheshire home after a fire caused by setting off fireworks in the bathroom saw police and fire crews tend to the blaze. Balotelli proceeded to score twice against United at Old Trafford in the 6-1 rout, during which he revealed a t-shirt bearing the words ‘Why always me?’

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Premier League title holder Manchester United had a record revenue of €334.1 million ($462 million) this past year. After paying off debts — including the €50 million owed for the purchasing of De Gea, Ashley Young, and Phil Jones, the Red Devils will have made a €110.9 million profit.

Wayne Rooney’s new €180,000 per week deal also takes a chunk out of the newfound profit, along with 16% rise in staff costs. The record-breaking revenue has been the largest revenue the team has seen since the early 2000’s. According to Andy Green, who spoke to The Guardian about this topic, the club has been fighting a long battle with debt since 2005.

According to Green, €478 million has been spent in order to pay of this debt, with most of it coming from interest fees. Along with winning the Premier League title, Manchester United also made it to the finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Although losing the match to a strong side in FC Barcelona, the publicity that the Red Devils received got them more viewers and more companies willing to spend money to get in the spotlight as well.
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With many of the stars having a good trip with their international teams the week before, this past week brought about some great matches that have caused some big changes in the standings. This includes Chelsea regaining a top three position, Stoke City taking the fourth place position, and Liverpool slipping down two spots to fifth place.

However, Manchester United and Manchester City are still going head to head for the leading position in the league, making the space between the leaders and the followers in the standings quite large.

Arsenal 1:0 Swansea City

Arsenal came out in better form than they had in their 8-2 loss to Manchester United two weeks ago, allowing them to move up in the standings and maybe motivate the team to reach their usual top four position once again.

The win was not a pretty win, with the only goal coming in the 40^th minute from Andrei Arshavin after a terrible mistake between Swansea goalkeeper Michael Vorm and one of his defenders. This left the net wind open for Arshavin to help Arsenal win a big three points that they desperately needed.

Everton 2:2 Aston Villa

After an entertaining match that saw several goals and drama with penalties, neither Everton nor Aston Villa was able to come away from the match with a win.

The first goal of the match came off the boot of Everton forward Leon Osman in the 19^th minute. This gave Everton the lead going into the second half. However, Aston Villa was able to equalize in the 63^rd minute when midfielder Stilian Petrov was able to get past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Drama came five minutes later with a penalty kick awarded to Everton’s Leighton Baines who was able to hit the back of the net. After a strong battle in the closing minutes of the match, Aston Villa was able to equalize yet again from a shot off the boot of Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 83^rd minute, giving both teams a point in the standings.

Manchester City 3:0 Wigan Athletic

Sergio Aguero, Manchester City’s most popular newcomer from this past transfer window, showed he was more than worth the money paid for him by contributing all three of the goals in their win against Wigan Athletic.

Aguero scored early in the first half, putting the ball in the back of the net in the 13^th minute. It wasn’t until the second half when Aguero would put in two more goals to finish his hat trick and stop any chance of Wigan making a comeback in the latter half of the game. With this win, Manchester City sits in second place due to goal difference between Manchester United.

Sunderland 1:2 Chelsea

Chelsea moved back into the top four of the Premier League with their win against Sunderland, who they outplayed the entire match. The first goal of the game was scored by Chelsea defender John Terry in the 18^th minute, and was the only goal scored in the first half. Daniel Sturridge, in covering for the injured Didier Drogba, put the second goal in for Chelsea in the 50^th minute.

Although there was a glimmer of hope shown in Sunderland when substitute Ji Dong-Wong scored in the last minute of the match, Chelsea was able to defend well through injury time and secure the win.

Wolverhampton 0:2 Tottenham

Although the game was uneventful in the first half, Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor was able to secure a goal and the lead in the 67^th minute. Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham’s second forward paired up with Adebayor, scored the second goal in the 80^th minute.

Tottenham was able to rally in the last half hour of the match in order to secure the win against Wolverhampton, and also move farther away from regulation.

Stoke City 1:0 Liverpool

The one and only goal was scored from a penalty kick off the boot of Stoke forward Jonathan Walters in the 21^st minute. The rest of the match was evenly battled between the two sides; however, Liverpool was unable to capitalize on chances while Stoke’s defense showed to be the stronger of the two teams.

Liverpool slipped down the standings with their first loss of the season to Stoke City, although both teams were evenly matched throughout the entire game.

Bolton 0:5 Manchester United

Javier Hernandez came out in form for his first start this season scoring in the first five minutes of the match. Wayne Rooney also continued his form with a goal in the 20^th minute, then another goal five minutes later. Hernandez scored his second goal of the match in the 58^th minute with no sign of Bolton having a chance to get one in the net.

Finally, Rooney finished his hat trick in the 68^th minute, making it back to back hat tricks for the player. Another high scoring match leaves Manchester United at the top of the standings, along with making more room in between them and other teams in the middle of the standings.

Norwich City 0:1 West Bromwich Albion

Thanks to a very early first half goal, West Brom was able to get their first win of the season while visiting Norwich City on Saturday. Peter Odemwingie was able to capitalize on a mistake in the third minute of the game between one Norwich defender and backup goalkeeper Declan Rudd, filling in the first spot due to John Ruddy’s suspension.

This one goal was all West Brom needed in order to get their first win, allowing them to forget about their three game losing streak and hopefully keep away from the relegation zone.

Fulham 1:1 Blackburn

With the two teams sitting in the relegation zone, and in desperate need of a couple points, the battle between Fulham and Blackburn concluded in a draw that keeps both teams without a win so far this season.

Although putting up a great fight at the beginning of the match, Blackburn was the first to score with a blistering shot off the boot of Ruben Rochina in the 32^nd minute. Thankfully, Fulham were able to come back six minutes later from the help of Bobby Zamora, making it all even going into the uneventful second half.

Queens Park Rangers 0:0 Newcastle United

With five newly transferred players in the starting squad for Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United had the mindset of coming out of the match with a win since the players would not be in sync with each other. However, QPR were the team to watch this match due to having the most scoring chances in the match even though they could not capitalize on any of them.

Newcastle move up to sixth place, leaving them secure until next weekend.

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This summer’s transfer window was one for the record books, with the Barclay’s Premier League teams spending close to €500 million in the past three months. All in all, every team has made dramatic changes to the club with several additions. Out of all the transfers this summer, we counted down the top ten significant transfers that will make or break teams this season:

10)       Gervinho (Lille OSC to Arsenal)

A native to the Ivory Coast, Gervinho got noticed from Premier side Arsenal after his past team, French Ligue One team Lille OSC, won the League Cup and the Coupe de France in the 2010-2011 season.

Although the start to the season has not gone the way Arsenal have wanted it, with Gervinho getting suspended for three games after getting into a fight with Johnny Barton in his debut in the English Premier League, Arsene Wenger hopes that the Ivorian national will be able to help fill the boots of the recently transferred Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

9)         Mikel Arteta (Everton to Arsenal)

Having his best season with Everton scoring nine goals in 35 matches during the 2006-2007 season, Mikel Arteta suffered from injuries that kept him out of several matches up until he was traded to Arsenal this summer. Although he is injury prone, Arteta is a strong midfielder who could help Arsenal fill in the gaps that Fabregas and Nasri left when they transferred.

8)         Raul Meireles (Liverpool to Chelsea)

Noticing that many of Liverpool’s new signings during the summer would give him a lesser chance in the starting eleven, Raul Meireles asked to be put on the transfer block and was picked up by Chelsea. Scoring 5 goals in 6 games during the 2010-2011 season, Meireles showed signs of creating chances in the midfield that will be helpful in Chelsea’s attempts to win the league this season.

7)         Stuart Downing (Aston Villa to Liverpool)

Although Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish said that Stuart Downing would not be traded this past transfer window, an agreement was made between Villa and Liverpool for the English midfielder.

The signing of Downing helps fill in the role of the injured Steven Gerrard, which left a big gap in the Liverpool midfield. However, the signing of Downing along with other young and talented midfielders makes Liverpool a contender for the championship this year.

6)         David De Gea (Atletico Madrid to Manchester United)

De Gea arrived in the Premier League with a difficult objective to achieve: to fill in as goalkeeper for the recently retired Edwin van der Sar. Arriving from the Spanish league side Athletico Madrid, De Gea has shown signs that he will be able to fit the role quite well in Manchester United’s win against Manchester City in the Community Shield, his first competitive match in the English Premier League.

Making some key saves as Manchester United rallied to win the charity competition 3-2, De Gea proved that he is more than capable to fill a spot that could have been the weakest link in the championship team.

5)         Charlie Adam (Blackpool to Liverpool)

The Scotland-born Charlie Adam was transferred to Liverpool along with Stuart Downing and Jordan Henderson to help provide midfield support in the absence of Steven Gerrard. With 29 goals in two seasons with Blackpool, Adam will be a major threat in the attacking area and will be a great addition to support Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll from the outside or center midfield.

4)         Juan Mata (Valencia to Chelsea)

For a big €23.5 million transfer fee, Juan Mata moved from the Spanish club Valencia to the Premier League club Chelsea. Mata, who scored 33 goals in four seasons with Valencia, will likely be trained as the newcomer for when Chelsea veteran Frank Lampard decides to retire.

Even though Lampard has a couple seasons left in him, Mata can definitely handle the pressure of taking up the reins when Lampard leaves.

3)         Ashley Young (Aston Villa to Manchester United)

The transfer of Ashley Young from Aston Villa to Manchester United was one of the biggest for the small club at the beginning of the transfer window. With a very successful career at Villa, playing four seasons and scoring 30 goals, Young also got recognized and given a spot on the England national team.

Now that Young is paired up with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Young will be more than helpful towards winning another title for his new club.

2)         Samir Nasri (Arsenal to Manchester City)

The drama between Samir Nasri and Arsenal during the summer, along with the transfer of Cesc Fabregas, was one of the most talked about subject when it came to the end of the transfer window. Whether or not Nasri was going to be leaving Arsenal was never clear, since Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did not want to lose two of his best players in the same transfer window.

However, Nasri left for Manchester City, where he has already begun to show prowess in helping get Manchester City back to the top of the league again.

1)         Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid to Manchester City)

Manchester City came into the summer transfer window looking to buy anything that it takes to get them a league title. However, just by purchasing Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid gives them a very strong chance of achieving that.

Aguero scored 74 goals in 174 matches with his old Spanish club, and has already scored three goals in the last three Premier league matches he has played with Manchester City. Pairing Aguero up with Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri will mean that Manchester City will be putting on quite a show in the attacking field.

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