Mario Balotelli is one of the most enigmatic and reportedly difficult footballers in the Barclay’s Premier League and like many sports stars, his name is as synonymous with descriptions of arrogance as it is with words of praise. So is the Italian rapscallion arrogant or just confident? And what is it that pushes athletes like him to the top?

It is never a surprise to hear a fan call one of their sports heroes arrogant, especially when its someone like Balotelli. The way he lives typifies most people’s perception of an arrogant lifestyle. The high wages, expensive cars and supermodels that are associated with him and his ilk do little to feed the idea that athletes are actual human beings living in the real world, dealing with the same problems the rest of us face. In reality, arrogance is a trait that top athletes rarely possess. Self-confidence though is vital.

Balotelli is notoriously vocal outside of training and has inspired controversy everywhere he goes. Commenting on AC Milan’s new signing: “Silvio Berlusconi says he (Antonio Cassano) is the best Italian talent. He’s wrong or he doesn’t know Balotelli.” Of course he is far from the first athlete to boast shamelessly about his own talents.

Muhammad Ali was ‘The Greatest’, or so he famously proclaimed in his prime. He was loved by journalists and the public for his sharp wit and astounding ability as a fighter. His speeches consisted of confidence and self-promotion: “I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.” Quotes like these are the reason he features in so many opinion polls as the most arrogant sportsman of all time, but it is also one of the reasons that he is such a popular figure.

Performance psychologist Andrew Evans believes that arrogance is something very different from confidence.

“Athletes who are confident formulate perceptions about themselves on information that is authentic and reality driven. On the other hand, athletes that are arrogant are likely to take this confidence to a different level, as they overestimate who they are and what they can do, along with acting in ways that make those around them feel inferior.”

Evans believes that it is a misconception that many athletes are arrogant, because an athlete would “withdraw after failure.”  An arrogant person is likely to make claims about their superior ability without prior evidence or record to back these claims up, then when they inevitably fail at the sport they claim to be good at they will stop trying it and move on to something else. A professional athlete is someone who has worked incredibly hard to become the top sports person that they are and has overcome difficulties and failures to reach the top. Therefore by Evans’ definition, top athletes are unlikely to be arrogant because an arrogant person would have ceased trying as soon as the first obstacle arose in their path to sporting success.

Evans uses Ali as an example. “Boxer Muhammad Ali’s extreme confidence in his prime was factual; He was winning every single fight. Arrogance would have been if he had belittled others and claimed to be ‘the greatest’ but was in fact not winning many fights.”

The idea applied to modern sports stars would mean that many sports stars are not arrogant but in fact self-confident. There is no doubt in their minds that they are capable of achieving the things they prophesise, and crucially their previous performances must be sufficient to give their words credibility. One star that has always had the arrogant label is Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Even the staunchest Barcelona fan could not deny his prowess, but he is certainly not afraid to say how good he is: “No one did what I did last season and for this I deserve the Golden Boot and why not the best World Player.” Speaking in 2008 after his incredible 44-goal season for Manchester United, Ronaldo has the evidence to back up his claims. Arrogance is defined as an exaggerated opinion of one’s own importance or ability and Ronaldo’s claim that he deserves these awards was justified because history tells us that he did in fact win both of those awards for his performances in the 2007/08 season.

So whether or not arrogance can help an athlete perform better or not is really an illogical sentence because it is the self-confidence, mistaken for arrogance that a competitor has that can give them the edge to succeed.

Distinguishing between an arrogance competitor and a competitor with a self-confident mindset can be difficult but Evans believes that the crux of the issue is “reaction to failure” and says that cricket player Kevin Pietersen is a good example of a confident performer, misinterpreted as an arrogant one.

“Kevin Pietersen had a dip in form for about two years where he did not hit a century for ages until recently. He kept getting out for the same shots, shots which looked lazy, shots that he shouldn’t have been playing like a reverse sweep.”

“That’s not an arrogant performer. Arrogance would have been if he had got out first time then not tried those shots again. He is a confident performer as he had the self confidence to keep trying those shots as he knew they had worked in the past.”

This reaction to failure is the difference between someone who can reach the top and someone who cannot. If athletes like Pietersen gave up trying skills that they know they can execute despite the high risk of failure then they would not enjoy the high levels of success that they do when the skills are performed correctly. Self-confidence is about persistence through failure. Arrogance is indicated by a lack of it and ultimately a lack of success.

The personality of an athlete has never been of such importance to the general public, and the trend looks set to continue. In days gone by it was enough just to be an incredible performer. Now thanks in part to the media orientated world we live in, we have to know what an athlete is like as a person to the extent that in some cases a performer’s personality can eclipse his or her ability. Balotelli falls unequivocally into this category. Stories of visiting a school to use it’s facilities and taking an interest in the case of a boy who was bullied to the extent that he personally mediated negotiations between the youngster and his persecutor, make the Man City striker a journalists dream.

Arrogance has a proven psychiatric association to low cognitive ability, and an arrogant person is unlikely to make friends easily or be a popular figure like Balotelli has arguably become. Stories that are as fascinating as they are dubious follow Balotelli everywhere, such as his method of attracting members of the opposite sex. He reportedly asks a friend to approach girls in night-clubs and say, “Balotelli will see you now.” Antics like this have the peculiar effect of endearing the striker to the public, something that a truly arrogant person would be unable to accomplish.

His club manager, Roberto Mancini is famously talkative about his frustrations over the young Italian.

“If Mario is not one of the best players in the world it will be his fault, because he has everything.”

“I have finished my work with him (Balotelli), I am finished today, but I love him as a guy.”

It is clear Mancini has an unusual relationship with Balotelli and it is probable that having him on his team has cost Mancini countless hours of sleep. But the Man City manager clearly likes Balotelli as a person, therefore the young forward is unlikely to be arrogant but because of his proven ability to form healthy relationships with others around him.

Andrew Evans said, “[Balotelli] believes that he will eventually be the best player in the world. That’s not arrogance, it’s confidence. He believes that he can do something which he debatably could do because he has performed quite well for Man City this season.”

“Research has been shown that a person having 100% confidence in their ability is not always good as they can overestimate what they can do and have unrealistic expectations. An athlete maybe needs to have that 10% of self-doubt. I think there’s something special that makes a really good performer, not arrogance but a little bit of self-doubt.”

It is possible that Mario Balotelli is lacking that self-doubt that could take him to the next stage of his career and see him realize his undoubted potential as one of the best players in the world.

It remains to be seen what will happen to Balotelli. He may be sold by Mancini at the end of the season and disappear into obscurity. Equally he could just as easily stay at Man City and score 50 goals next season. Nothing is beyond the young striker. Balotelli may have self-confidence to the point that it has become detrimental but he is almost certainly not an arrogant person, no matter what the papers say.

Hertha Berlin will return to the top flight after just one season in the lower league wilderness but it is likely a long battle against relegation awaits them.

Their last top flight campaign ended not just in relegation but humiliation – an embarrassingly poor hinrunde effectively condemned them by Christmas and after winning at home on the opening day, they failed to triumph again in front of their own fans in the whole campaign.

Last season was a relatively straightforward march to promotion but there is a world of difference between the two top German leagues.

While the gap between the first and 18th club in the country is bridgeable on any given Saturday, the difference in resources to those in spots 19, 20 and 21, challenging for promotion to the top flight, and those in positions 34, 35 and 36, trying to survive in the second level, is massive.

And even with this considerable advantage, Hertha slipped up on a number of occasions in the Second Division against clubs they should have been beating comfortably.

The previous first choice goalkeeper Aerts and his defence, while often secure, were prone to bad lapses in concentration and this is something which will be severely punished in the months ahead.

While Thomas Kraft, recruited from Bayern Munich, is a better ‘keeper, there are big question marks over the back four.  Hubnik may have impressed last season but Mijatovic and Kobiashvili will not look nearly so solid at the higher level.

Maik Franz will at least provide a considerable physical force but relying on his brutish presence is an acknowledgement by the manager of the struggle which lies ahead.

The midfield focal point is Raffael but while he was frequently brilliant in the Second Division, he was just as frequently posted missing in the First Division the year before.  Whether or not he has matured into a more reliable performer could be the key question which decides Hertha’s fate.

The forward line will rely almost exclusively on Adrian Ramos for goals although the capture of Tunay Torun could prove to be an inspired piece of business.  The young talent could not crack the first team at HSV but certainly has potential.

However, he, like all the other newcomers, has made a move which is either downward or sideways at best to come Hertha – not one signing has been made of a player whose career is clearly on an upward trajectory.

That can work one of two ways as a team nursing resentment at their previous failures and rejections elsewhere may well be determined to prove the critics wrong and flourish in the top flight.  But confidence will also be fragile – unless a strong start is made, old demons may well return haunt the Olympiastadion once more.

The long suffering fans of Hamburg need no reminding that it has been 24 long years since they last lifted a trophy – and all but the most hopeful are already resigned to another campaign full of hurt.

The players which have formed the core of the team recently are being allowed to leave and with youngsters coming in to replace them an instant turnaround seems impossible. But the team being dismantled now is well past its sell-by date and though a season in transition will hurt, there is reason for cheer that the new direction the club is taking is up rather than down.

The last set of players went close to success in 2009 and 2010 but lost three semi finals – all of which could have been won – and continually fell short of reaching Champions League.

If you are going to fail, you may as well fail with youngsters which cost less money and can improve as a unit in the future. Losing the popular Colin Benjamin signals the end of an era but the departures of Joris Mathijsen, Ze Roberto, Frank Rost, Piotr Trochowski and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, along with a handful of younger underachievers, can free up precious wages which are badly needed for longer-term investment.

With the likes of Guy Demel, Jonathan Pitroipa and possibly even Eljero Elia in contention to join David Rozehnal in bringing in transfer fees, the squad which starts the next season will be almost completely rebuilt. And a rebuilding job which installs solid foundations for the future is definitely what is needed if HSV are ever to taste glory again. They can just look on enviously at northern rivals Werder Bremen who have achieved a string of successes in the last decades based on long-term bosses Otto Rehhagel and Thomas Schaaf. Instead Hamburg have attempted to apply a series of elastoplasts to injuries which have required major surgery.

Anyone wearing Rothosen looking at the coming season with optimism is likely to be in for more disappointment – probably starting with the opening game when a heavy loss to champions Dortmund already looks inevitable. But the appointment of Arnesen, and a slow rebuilding of the squad with an emphasis on youth, suggests that the scale of the challenge ahead has finally been accepted.

Good times in the Volksparkstadion may remain far away – but at least they may be coming into sight again from over the horizon.

Editor’s note: Read more of Derek’s work at www.sportwriter.eu

Photo by SpreePiX - Berlin

Michael Ballack has suffered several disappointments  in his career – but though being informed his time in the Germany squad is effectively over will have hurt, even he cannot be surprised.

The writing has been on the wall for Ballack for several months and Joachim Loew’s reluctance to bring him back even when fit was a clear signal he was no longer required.

Football can be a cruel sport but it is also a simple one.  Ageing, injury prone players are replaced by younger, fitter athletes and that is exactly what happened to Ballack.

Had he not been injured before the World Cup, who knows if he would have retained his place? Certainly it would have been a bold move to drop him but with Germany adopting a more youthful, faster style of play it is equally hard to see how he would have continued to truly fit in.

Perhaps rather than fading away in the trikot of the DFB-Elf, it is better to make the cut as quick and clean as possible.

A last farewell in a friendly against Brazil, which would be his 99th cap, would be a fitting end to a magnificent career.

As while Ballack is sometimes the butt of runners-up jokes, the truth is he is a winner and deserves to be remembered as such.

He suffered heartbreak with the rest of the classic 2002 Bayer Vizekusen team which finished second in three competitions but he had already lifted the Deutsche Meisterschaft in a fairytale story with Kaiserslautern four years previously.

And though the summer of 2002 brought further hurt with a World Cup final missed due to suspension, it is universally acknowledged that Ballack and Oli Kahn, almost alone, carried Germany to that final.

His time with Bayern Munich saw him collect domestic trophy after trophy and his spell at Chelsea was not without winners medals either.

It was only the summer of 2008 which again provided dark clouds but Ballack cannot be blamed for John Terry’s Champions League penalty slip in Moscow, nor for the fact he was patently unfit when Germany took on Spain in the final of Euro 2008.

Indeed, playing through the pain barrier in that game summed up his desire to everything for the team, just as he had done in the World Cup of 2006.

That summer Ballack was quieter than 2002 but his efficiency on the ball in a deeper role, combined with a steely determination, saw him lead his country on an unexpected, but glorious, sommermärchen to within an ace of another World Cup final.

Even at the peak of his powers, Ballack was a player who was respected rather than loved.  But the final, almost inevitable, swipes at his style and personality which will surely come over the next weeks should not detract from the fact he was one of the finest midfielders of his generation.  And he has enough winners’ medals to prove it.