He has been outscored in Turkey this season by Premier League flops Michy Batshuayi and Andreas Cornelius and was once told he ‘deserves a slap’ by the man who captains the Italy team, Giorgio Chiellini.
And yet here we are. A promising, but not spectacular, upturn in form combined with an injury to another key player and a World Cup place to fight for has seen coach Roberto Mancini hand Mario Balotelli his first Italy call-up since 2018.
Now 31, this represents at the very least an opening for a possible shot at redemption for Balotelli. Italy don’t actually have any games to play this month but Mancini is holding a training camp in Coverciano to prepare for the World Cup play-offs in March.
Italy might be the Euro 2020 holders but there is a serious prospect that they will fail to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar later this year. They are strong favourites to defeat North Macedonia in their first World Cup play-off but will then face Portugal – who will likely beat Turkey – for a place in the tournament.
And to make matters worse for Italy and Mancini, their best striker in Federico Chiesa is out for at least seven months with a torn ACL – he had surgery on Monday. Enter Balotelli.
Mario Balotelli’s form for Turkish side Adana Demirspor has earned him an Italy recall
Balotelli has eight goals in 19 appearances so far for the side fourth in the Turkish league
Italy boss Roberto Mancini has handed Balotelli his international lifeline – the ex-Man City boss famously had a training ground bust-up with him but has largely spoken fondly of the striker
Plying his trade for Adana Demirspor, who are fourth in the Turkish SuperLig, Balotelli has scored eight goals in 19 appearances so far and provided five assists. He is managed by Vincenzo Montella – a former team-mate of Italy boss Mancini when the duo were at Sampdoria in the late 90s.
Yet while Balotelli is now showing signs of consistency, life in Turkey didn’t get off to a solid start. In his third game – where he was still without a goal for his new team – he was substituted in the 56th minute and reacted furiously, even appearing to punch a team-mate on the bench when venting in fury.
But that incident prompted a twist of fate that helped Balotelli on his path back to the international fold. His then manager, Samet Aybaba, was sacked three days later and in came Montella.
Aybaba sent a parting shot at Balotelli, saying: ‘If Balotelli plays, he’s a problem. If he doesn’t play, he’s the same problem.’
But Balotelli appears to have made a powerful friend in Turkey in his club president Murat Sancak.
‘We are like brothers,’ Sancak said of the Italian. ‘He loves me very much. He doesn’t go anywhere without my say-so.’
Life didn’t start smoothly in Turkey for Balotelli – he was furious at being substituted in the 56th minute of his third game for Demirspor, when he was still searching for his first goal
Balotelli even appeared to punch a team-mate amid venting at the decision to sub him
Sometimes it seems with Balotelli that he needs to know he is wanted in order to get the best out of him. And Mancini has perhaps forged the closest relationship with him out of all of his coaches across his storied career.
‘I have always had an excellent relationship with Mancini,’ Balotelli said last November. ‘He just has to tell me what he wants from me if I am to return to the Italy side.
‘If I knew that I would be called up for next March, I would walk all the way from Turkey.
‘I have spoken to him recently. Mancini hasn’t called on me as he knows my potential, and I am not yet at the level required. I want to be in peak condition.’
For his part, Mancini has spoken fondly of Balotelli repeatedly over the years of his career but like so many others, has also been driven to despair by him on many occasions.
They were once involved in a heated training ground bust-up, with Mancini furious at a late and mis-timed tackle from Balotelli on a Manchester City team-mate as they prepared for an FA Cup third round tie against Watford in 2013.
That same year, he hauled Balotelli off in the first half of a pre-season friendly against Los Angeles Galaxy after he ran through on goal before attempting to score via a back-heel.
Balotelli claimed he thought he heard the referee blow the whistle for him being offside but Mancini thought the attempt was disrespectful to their opponents.
And of course, there are the stories of folklore about Balotelli that stretch far beyond his relationship with Mancini – setting off fireworks in his bathroom in Manchester, getting tangled up in his own bib in training, walking round in an AC Milan shirt while playing for their fierce rivals Inter… the list can go on.
Despite their clashes, Balotelli and Mancini enjoyed successes together at Manchester City
Balotelli said previously that he would ‘walk from Turkey’ if he was ever recalled by Italy
Balotelli has 36 caps for Italy and 14 goals but his last appearance for his country was the first competitive one Mancini had as Italy manager – a 1-1 draw in the Nations League against Poland in July 2018.
Now, he has a huge opportunity ahead of him – a chance to lead his side into the World Cup, a chance to play at a World Cup and a chance to use the biggest stage of all to show how he has changed his ways for the better.
‘At 31 years old, playing for the national team should be normal, abnormality is not being there,’ Balotelli said as news emerged of his call-up – as if abnormality hasn’t been a staple of his career.
‘I hope Italy qualify for the World Cup, they deserve it. I don’t know why they are in the play-offs but it can happen.’
There’s plenty of hard work ahead of both Balotelli and Italy and he’ll have to start with earning the respect of his team-mates.
Captain Chiellini wrote scathingly about the striker in his autobiography, detailing how unimpressed he was with Balotelli’s attitude in their 2013 Confederations Cup campaign.
Balotelli’s last Italy appearance was in a 2018 1-1 draw against Poland in the Nations League
Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini said Balotelli ‘deserved a slap’ in the 2013 Confederations Cup
‘Balotelli is a negative person with no respect for the team,’ Chiellini said.
‘In 2013, in the Confederations Cup against Brazil, he didn’t help us at all. He deserved a slap.
‘Someone thinks he is among the top five players in the world, I never even thought that he could be in the top ten or twenty.’
Now, nobody is expecting Balotelli to become a world beater. But maybe, just maybe, his partnership with Italy has another dramatic chapter still to be written.
