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“Balotelli Svogliato e Fuori Forma: Per C” (CC BY 2.0) by NazionaleCalcio
Mario Balotelli, once such an exciting prospect, has suffered a massive fall from grace in recent years. His form and fitness have left a lot to be desired and his position at the forefront of Italy’s attack at Euro 2021 is looking increasingly less likely.
In fact, in an interview in late 2015, Italy manager Antonio Conte quipped that the striker may have to watch the tournament from his television at home. The former Manchester City forward has not played for the international team since 2014 and Conte has previously described the out-of-sorts striker as “just another player”. This doesn’t bode well for his chances of making the squad in France, especially when the likes of Lorenzo Insigne and Graziano Pelle look like much stronger options in attack.
When Balotelli broke out at Inter Milan he had pundits claiming that he could go on to be one of the world’s best. His high-profile move to Manchester City was a relatively successful one but off-pitch behaviour and scuffles with the manager meant that his time there was short lived. Speaking towards the end of Balotelli’s City career, his former employer and ex-CEO of Inter Milan, Ernesto Paolillo, tipped him to one day be greater than Lionel Messi and go on to win the Ballon D’Or. Although looking back now that seems like an incredibly outlandish statement, it shows just how much faith some had in the youngster at the time.
Now at the age of 25, Balotelli could still have a highly successful career ahead of him. The problem is that his attitude has often hindered his progress and his lack of willing to be a team player has led to him being shunted. The raw skill and natural talent is there, but he still hasn’t become a complete player.
Currently on loan at AC Milan, the club where Balotelli arguably enjoyed the peak of his career to date, he is struggling to find the form that he displayed there in the past. Milan are at the time of writing at odds of 66/1 for a top-three finish in the Bet365 Serie A betting. At the start of the season the head coach, Sinisa Mihajlovic, may have thought that the addition of Balotelli to the squad would help contribute to a higher finish. But with a measly one league goal to his name, this has not been the case.
Balotelli could still cling to some hope of making the Euros. If he manages to score some goals for his club between now and the end of the season, it may serve to remind Conte that he has a striker to call upon who has been reasonably successful at international level. For his country, Balotelli has chalked up 13 goals in 33 starts, which trumps Pelle and Insigne’s combined stats.
Unless there is an injury to one of the Italy’s main attackers, however, Balotelli’s chances of going to France remain slim. Maybe over the next couple of years he will display yet another turnaround in form, and go on to shine at the next World Cup. In the topsy-turvy story of Balotelli’s career, it could well happen.
