You may think a guy who has to pay his ex-wife £82,000 — a day yes, a day — would have learned a financial lesson or two, but Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister of Italy and president of AC Milan, continues to be a lucrative benefactor and not just for the former Signora Berlusconi.
As Forbes magazine estimated Berlusconi's wealth at $5.9 billion, even his ex-factor will make minimal inroads to his fortune. Yet Manchester City, whose Abu Dhabi-based owners make even Berlusconi look like a relative pauper, hardly need the generosity of Milan, which this week paid City £19.5 million for Mario Balotelli, an underachieving, overpaid non-scoring striker.
It is also worth remembering that last month Berlusconi said: "The name of Balotelli never came into my thoughts, he is a rotten apple and could infect every group where he goes, even Milan."