Jose Mourinho: 'Mario Balotelli has his best years ahead of him'

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that we are yet to see the best of Italian striker Mario Balotelli.

Mourinho worked with Balotelli during his time at Inter Milan and despite admitting that he is unlikely to coach the 23-year-old again, the Blues boss believes that he will become a better player.

"In football you never know the future but I think at this moment he is with a big club, Milan," Mourinho told Yahoo. "I suppose that they want to keep the best players and they want to keep the best Italian players.

"He was already in English football. For sure I am not going to be his manager at Milan or at the Italian national team so I don't think there is any situation in the future but he's a good guy, he's a good kid.

"I think the best years of a playing career are between 27 and 31 - so he's not there, but hopefully he goes in the right direction."

Balotelli has scored 10 times for AC Milan in Serie A this season.