Brescia owner: Balotelli can leave on free transfer in January

It looks as though Mario Balotelli's tenure with his hometown club Brescia will be a short one.

Despite Balotelli joining Brescia on a one-year contract just last summer, the club's owner Massimo Cellino is open to letting him leave on a free transfer during the January window.

"In January, he can leave on a free. In this moment, he needs to choose which road is best for him," Cellino said, according to BBC Sport.

News of Cellino's willingness to part with the 29-year-old came shortly after he sacked manager Fabio Grosso after three matches at the helm.

Along with Balotelli's struggles in front of goal while scoring just twice this season, the Italian forward also dealt with racist abuse when he was targeted with monkey chants during an away match against Hellas Verona last month.

He was recently involved in an altercation with Grosso during training last week, too.

Cellino has come to the conclusion that Balotelli might not have what it takes to help Brescia's efforts to avoid relegation to Serie B.

"Mario is sad because he is unable to play his game," he added.

"Fighting for survival in Serie A requires a huge sacrifice and perhaps he thought it would be much more simple."

Last week, Cellino controversially said Balotelli's struggles with the club are race-related.

"What can I say? That he's black and he's working to whiten himself but he has great difficulties in this," he said.

The eccentric former Leeds United owner later explained that his comments were meant as a joke.

Brescia sit bottom of the Serie A table with seven points in 13 matches.