Super Mario Balotelli penned a three-year deal with Adana Demirspor, a newly promoted team in the Turkish top flight.
Once regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, Balotelli played for the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Inter, and AC Milan during his career. The 30-year old was last under contract with Monza in the Italian second tier, the team owned by former AC Milan boss and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Balotelli scored five goals in 12 outings for the Serie B club last season.
Adana Demirspor, which is newly promoted in the Turkish Superleague, is the 10th club in Balotelli’s unsettled career.
“We have completed a transfer that will write its name in the history of our club with golden letters,” the team’s Twitter account wrote. “World Star Mario Balotelli has officially signed a three-year contract with our team. ‘Super Mario’ will now score goals for the blue jersey”, the message added.
Balotelli will be given the number nine jersey. The Italian isn’t the only super-transfer Adana Demirspor is counting on ahead of the new season. The club already signed former Montpellier, Nice, and Galatasaray star Younes Belhanda (31), and has made an offer to David Luiz, the ex-Arsenal, Chelsea, and PSG defender.
Just how crazy is Balotelli?
Balotelli played 36 games under the Italian flag, scoring 14 goals. His last call came in 2018. Super Mario wasn’t even considered as an option for Italy’s Euro 2020 squad given his lack of form. The striker doesn’t see it as a dead-end.
Murat Sancak, Adana Demirspor’s chairman, said Balotelli hasn’t abandoned the thought of representing Italy.
“He wants to play for Adana Demirspor so he can score goals and go to the World Cup,” Sancak revealed for Turkish TV A Spor. “They say Balotelli is crazy, but nobody needs to worry. We will be able to manage him,” the club official added.
Balotelli’s career has been controversial. He’s famous for setting his own bathroom on fire on the eve of a Manchester derby while trying to launch fireworks from the window, as well as for throwing darts at the Man City youth players because he was bored. Mario also drove his car into a women’s prison and was questioned by the police. He told the officers he was “having a look around.”
Balotelli will earn $18 million over the next three years in Turkey, with a sponsor paying half the money.