Former Italy striker Mario Balotelli has discussed a time he met the Juventus leaders and could have joined the club.
The striker was one of the more well-known Italian players of his generation and turned out for both Milan clubs.
However, Balotelli is a troubled player and has only just started becoming mature.
As the first black man to play for the Italian national team, he had to have thick skin and most top clubs in the country wanted to add him to their squad.
Juve was one of them and he revealed a meeting with the club’s leaders via Football Italia:
“Mino Raiola spoke to Beppe Marotta, I met with Antonio Conte and Pavel Nedved, the coach explained how I would play. It seemed done, then Adriano Galliani intercepted and brought me to Milan. It was a real family there.”
Juve FC Says
Balotelli has been one of the enigmatic characters in the Italian game and was a very volatile player.
If he had played for Juve, he could have won several trophies with us, but it remains unclear if our managers could have successfully dealt with his larger-than-life personality.
We won several trophies during his career, which means we probably did not need him to be successful and there is no need to wonder what could have been if he was in our team.
Why does Juve keep insisting on adding washed up players? If you want someone for 7 million a year to stay at the J medical hotel, or just participate at trainings I’ll do it for half price.