Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has said that Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini should quickly think about ways of selling striker Mario Balotelli in the summer.

The Italian, who arrived from Inter Milan for £ 24 million, has been a negative influence on the whole club and the players at the club. It was aptly reflected in the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal recently, which helped Manchester United open an eight point advantage at the top of the table. Following the match, Roberto Mancini said that Mario Balotelli will not play again for City again.

Former Sunderland manager Roy Keane has said that the decision taken by Mancini with regard to Mario Balotelli is perfectly right, and that he should sell the player as soon as possible in the summer transfer window. Mario Balotelli is widely regarded to be one of the best talents in the game, but it is also his problem. The 21-year-old Italian has caused a lot of problems at his previous club Inter Milan, and is continuing to do the same at Manchester City as well. However, with Manchester City decide to sell the youngster, then they will certainly find no trouble in selling him.

"If I was Manchester City manager, I'd ship out Mario Balotelli this summer. When a manager comes out and says he cannot trust a player, the writing is on the wall. Commentators might love footballers who are unpredictable but, believe me, managers prefer ones they can hang their hat on. Managers don't want to be in a situation where they don't know what they're going to get from one game to the next," Keane said in his column for The Sun. Balotelli has scored a number of goals for City this season, but he has been also causing a lot of troubles as well.

The feud between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane has intensified in the last few weeks, with the former Manchester United midfielder claiming that the club does not have any good youngsters.

Such criticism has prompted an angry response from Sir Alex Ferguson, but Roy Keane had the better of his former manager after United crashed out of the Champions League. Roy Keane has frequently said that he does not consider the current squad at Manchester United to be capable of eliminating the success of the club in the past.

He has said that Sir Alex Ferguson has failed to make any signings of important nature during the summer. His facts seem to be backed up when Manchester United lost 2-1 in the match against FC Basel, which ultimately resulted in their elimination from the Champions League at the group stages itself. This has been only the third time in the history of Manchester United that the club has eliminated at the group stages.

However, Alex Ferguson responded to the claims by saying that Roy Keane had the chances to prove himself as a manager, but he failed so. Hence, he should not be criticised in the youngsters, who have been trying a lot for Manchester United in recent seasons.

'People have talked about the young players - you've had Jones, (Chris) Smalling, (Ashley) Young coming in, everybody building them up but they've got a lot to do, it's a reality check for some. I'd be getting hold of some of those lads, saying "you'd better buck up your ideas",' Keane said in a recent interview. He also said that the club's best player on the night was Ryan Giggs, who is almost at the end of his career at 37 years of age.