Former Marseille and nice striker Mario Balotelli (35) admitted that he could have “made more effort into” during his career. The 35-year-old, who is a free agent after leaving Genoa this summer, made the comments in an interview with the Italian Outlet Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Arriving for the first time in France at OGC Nice, the Italian scored 43 goals in 76 Ligue 1 performances between 2016 and 2019, before he came to Marseille in 2019 for a spell of six months, where he yielded eight goals in 15 games. Last season Balotelli only succeeded 56 minutes in six replacement appearances in Serie A last season. Although he turns 35 on Tuesday, the 36-Cap Italy International says that he has no plans to retire and hopes to play “two or three years”, even revealing a dream to join Real Madrid.
The former Inter, Manchester City, Milan, Liverpool, Nice and Forward also explained his only real regret from his international career: “I could have played more, but some people didn't want me in the national team.” Balotelli also repeated a promise to end his career in addition to his brother Enock Barwuah, who drew this summer for series D Side Vado.
Since leaving Marseille, Balotelli has played for Brescia, Monza, Adana Demirspor – where he scored 26 goals in 51 games – and FC Sion, before returning to Italy with Genoa.Gffn | George Boxall