ANTONIO CASSANO is a one-off to be treasured, but I am not sure that his decision to hand on the mantle of Italian football’s maddest and baddest is really that helpful.

Cassano – a man once beautifully summed up by the description that ‘he is so hot-headed they have to put fire retardant in his hair gel’ – has sadly, for Manchester City fans, decided to map out who to pass the torch on to when he finally stops being the biggest walking controversy on the block in international football.

The 29-year-old is now sensationally back in the Azzurri camp, now wearing that famous blue shirt regularly against all the odds, and he scored twice against Northern Ireland in the last outing.

Never one to miss an opportunity to grab column inches, he basically admitted that past indiscretions had robbed him of gaining more international caps but hinted that in old age he was getting a lot calmer.

He went on to observe of his ability to say the wrong thing to reporters: “I am entirely sure that 70 per cent of the problem lies with me, but when I get it right 30 per cent of the time the media still say I’m wrong.”

But then crucially added: “But after me you’ll have Mario Balotelli!”

It was probably the last thing that poor Roberto Mancini wanted to hear with Carlos Tevez still not yet out of the door.