Mario Balotelli's return to form reminds Kevin Davies of the mavericks he's played with...

Former England and Bolton striker Kevin Davies remembers individual enigmas that he played with after Mario Balotelli's return to form...

KEVIN SAYS: Balotelli has looked lost at times. There’s no doubt about the Liverpool strikers ability but it’s a question of getting it out of him. You expect more from him as Brendan Rodgers has shown a lot of confidence in him. 

He just seems to get himself in situations, doesn’t he? That’s his personality and that’s who he is. I image he’s fun to be around with his pranks and it can bring a lot of good to dressing rooms, too.

But Balotelli is just one of football's enigmas, here are some others I've played with in my career...

El-Hadji Diouf

Diouf was brilliant for our dressing room at Bolton. He was a good person and you need good characters, but you have to be careful with them.

He was so colourful; he had flash cars with chrome wheels! Maybe he craved the attention. But he was a good team player – he had dazzling displays of individual brilliance but his stats prove he played for the team. He excelled at the high intensity statistics that managers like and was really important for us as a group. 

In the dressing room you didn’t mind his antics because he was doing the business on the pitch. Diouf didn’t get away with anything because if he did something wrong, on or off the pitch, the manager would discipline him. As long as you’re doing what you should be doing on the pitch and working hard, the other players don’t mind. They accept it. That’s the underlying problem with Balotelli – he hasn’t been doing that.

The opposition were always aware of Diouf. He had a few issues with spitting but his personality made him the player he was. I really enjoyed his company and I still see him in Bolton.

He probably should have done more with his career because of his ability. He’s underachieved, because he was so gifted.

Nicolas Anelka

The Frenchman came in with a bit of a reputation of someone who might disturb the peace of the dressing room so managers have to take that into account.

He was a private person, I got changed next to him and he wasn’t one to come in and start conversations. He was quiet and shy.

When he got married he invited a lot of the staff and groundsmen – he flew them over to Morocco, all expenses paid. Gestures like that were superb. He is different to Balotelli because he’s so private but he came in, did his work and went on to get a move to Chelsea.

But sometimes he would turn up late or not do everything he could during a weights session. I can remember that when he was edging towards leaving. 

Jay-Jay Okocha

He’s not the flamboyant Balotelli-type that you expect. As well as being one of the best footballers I’ve played with, he was very down-to-earth. He was the first to help other people and wasn’t one for showing off – Okocha and Diouf were chalk and cheese!

Jay-Jay played with a smile on his face and during my first week at Bolton he was going past me and I didn’t know where the ball went. He was so skilful and such a nice bloke. He was a free spirit on the pitch but was so intelligent and was allowed to go and express himself because we had Ivan Campo in midfield.

Youri Djorkaeff

Bolton fans had to pinch themselves when Djorkaeff played for us - I don’t know how Sam Allardyce sealed that deal! But he was so down-to-earth and would never boast about all his successes and trophies. He was very eloquent – typically French and cool. We never really heard any of his World Cup stories!

When you look at the similarities of these type of players, deep down, just want to be loved and adored.