Shut Up, Rolando Bianchi!

Take a look at this article that came out today on ESPNsoccernet about Manchester City striker Rolando Bianchi:

ROME, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Italian striker Rolando Bianchi aims to reach double figures at Manchester City this season but does not plan staying in the Premier League in the long term.

'I hope to score at least 10 goals and I want to win a place in the next Champions League with City. It would be like winning the championship,' he said in an interview published in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday.

'I want to become a European top scorer. After the 18 goals I scored with (Serie A side) Reggina, I want to reach double figures in the Premier League too.

'Then I'll pack my bags again and go in search of new adventures. I'd like to wear the shirt of Atletico Madrid and score 15 goals in the Primera Liga too.'

He also said he planned to return to Italy soon because playing abroad was not helping his chances of winning a place with the Italian national team.

The forward, who has scored four league goals since joining City in July, said he had trouble getting used to the British diet.

'I have raised the white flag with English food. I don't like it,' he said.

'I think I'm the only teetotal player in the Premier League. My team mates were surprised when I refused a beer. They looked at me as if I were an alien.'

He also has his doubts about English refereeing:

'In Italy the referee whistles as soon as a defender brushes against you. In the Premier League you don't get a free kick even if the defender runs you over with a tank.'

Wow. I don't even know where to begin.

I guess I'll start by saying that if you're lucky enough to play professional soccer, or any sport for a living for that matter, one would think that you'd appreciate that opportunity and not complain about it. I understand that that isn't how things work in the real world; players have their gripes about certain things and I know that, I'm a player myself.

But Bianchi crossed the line in this interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, a newspaper in his home country, Italy. First of all, he shouldn't have gone public with his desire to basically leave Manchester City and go to Atletico Madrid or somewhere else in Spain if he can score 10 goals this season. Bianchi is 24 years old and in the soccer world, you're supposed to be a little bit more mature and a lot less selfish at that age; you're not a youngster or a kid anymore. Basically what he's saying is that he just views playing soccer for City as a challenge, as another step in the ladder. He scored 18 goals with Reggina in Italy, he wants to score 10+ goals with City in England, and then he wants to go to Spain and do the same thing.

This is selfishness to a tee. You don't come out in the media and say that you're in it for the individual glory of scoring goals; whether that's what you care about or not, you stick with the team-first mantra and say you want to help achieve great things with that club.

"I'll pack my bags again and go in search of new adventures." I'm sorry, you just can't say that publicly. This will become a distraction because he's putting himself above the rest of the team. If you're going to boast about scoring goals and speak of your ambitions, at least be able to back that up on the field. Bianchi has not done that. He's scored 4 goals in 14 Premier League games this season and is not even a regular starter for City.

Bianchi also has the gall to complain about British food and refereeing. Granted, British food isn't in the same caliber as Italian food (but then again, nothing is), and some of the refereeing has been shockingly bad this year. But come on! Bianchi had to have known these things before he came to City! It was his choice to come to England in the first place; he made the decision to leave home for greener pastures. I have no problem with that at all, but I do have a problem with whining about something he knew full well about or at the very least, should have known full well about.

As I said before, he's 24 years old now. He's not a kid anymore but this interview brought him back down to that level. I haven't heard younger, more productive foreign players like Nani and Fernando Torres come out in the media and say things like this. There was no reason for Bianchi to do what he did and there's no excuse for it. If I was manager Sven Goran-Eriksson, I would have Bianchi on a plane out of England in January as soon as I could. It's obvious he doesn't want to be in England and he has no real desire to play for City, so why keep him on the roster?

Things like this make me angry. Rolando Bianchi is a disgrace and I truly feel bad for Manchester City, who invested a lot of money in him and their faith won't be rewarded.