Report: Balotelli's Liverpool contract included £1M bonus for good behaviour

All Mario Balotelli had to do was play nice during his time at Liverpool and the Italian forward would have been awarded an easy £1 million.

Liverpool officials were obviously well aware of the risk they were taking when they signed the controversial forward - whose disciplinary problems are well documented after spells with Inter, Manchester City, and AC Milan.

So, according to The Times, there was a good-behaviour clause added to Balotelli's Liverpool contract which stipulated that he was due a bonus if he avoided being sent off on three or more occasions during each season he spent at Anfield.

The contract stipulated that if Balotelli avoided being dismissed from matches three times for violent conduct - which, according to the report includes, "spitting at an opponent or any other person, for using offensive, insulting, or abusive language and/or gestures and/or for dissent by word or action" - he would receive the £1-million bonus after the season on June 30.

Balotelli could have earned up to £3 million after joining the Merseyside outfit from AC Milan in 2014 and signing a three-year contract. But, after a frustrating debut season, he was loaned back to the Italian team in 2015 before moving to Nice this past summer.

The 26-year-old looked as though his disciplinary problems had carried over to Ligue 1 during a match against Lorient in October when he was shown a second yellow card. However, the controversial card - issued after a perceived altercation with Lorient defender Steven Moreira - was later annulled by French Football League's Disciplinary Commission.

There was another clause in the agreement in which Balotelli would have earned £50,000-a-goal if he scored more than five goals in the Premier League or Champions League during his time at Liverpool. He never reached the mark after only managing one goal in the league and two Champions League goals during his lone season.