Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has backed recent signing Mario Balotelli to be better than Liverpool's Fernando Torres. Mancini was keen to get Torres to Eastlands this summer but instead landed Balotelli from Inter Milan and admits at the end of the day, he is happy with the player he eventually signed.
"Torres is a fantastic striker but I think it was difficult for Liverpool to sell him because he's such an important player for them," the Italian said.
"But it's good for us that we got Balotelli instead.
"Balotelli could be even better than Torres because Torres can only play as a striker. Balotelli can play as a striker or as a winger
. "What is sure is we are talking about two fantastic players.
"In my view, there are eight or nine fantastic strikers in the world - and Torres and Balotelli are two of them.
"Then there's (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Carlos) Tevez and (Leo) Messi. They're all fantastic players and we've managed to get one of them."
