Did you know that Mario Balotelli was on trial at Barcelona and was not far away from signing?

Here we have the fourth article from the section “Did you know that…?”. In the last article, we wrote about Zlatan and how he stole his coach’s bike as a child to get home from training faster. In this article, we look at a similarly strong personality. Specifically on Mario Balotelli and the story of how he was tested by FC Barcelona.

Mario Balotelli was entrusted to Italian foster parents at the age of two and grew up in a small town in northern Italy. His passion for football soon became apparent and, according to his brother, he spent hours watching videos of the world’s leading players in a bid to improve his already prodigious talent.

“Mario was restless, he was full of energy. You had to keep him active during the day so he could sleep at night,” Giovanni Balotelli said in a special programme for Canal Plus.

“He spent hours and hours studying videos of great players like Marco Van Basten, Diego Maradona, Ronaldo and Michel Platini. He knew them all by heart. Then he would go to the garage or the park to try to imitate what he saw.”

And after the then 16-year-old Balotelli made an impression at FC Lumezzane VGZ, a Serie C club, he and his family went to Barcelona for trials in June 2006.

“We thought it would be good for Mario to have experience abroad,” his brother explained. “We made contact and were told to come for two or three days. Mario was spectacular. It was one of the best times I’ve seen him play.”

Former Barcelona defender Jose Ramon Alexanko was the youth manager at the time. He recalls testing the Italian at the time as follows. “Mario had an exceptional game, scoring five goals. He was good enough and we were able to sign him.”

However, Alexanko added the following. “Mario was a kid with a great attitude, but besides that, agents were involved in the whole thing and the deal proved impossible.”

“It was impossible to reach an agreement with his agent, but our coaches thought he was good enough,” said another Barcelona coach from that time, Fran Sanchez.

Balotelli’s brother, however, claims the Catalan giant preferred to focus on local talent. “The reasons were never explained to us, but they probably wanted to concentrate on Spanish players. It’s a pity Mario is not Spanish.”

So the Parma native returned to Italy and after his transfer to an unnamed Swiss club was almost sealed, he was scouted by Inter Milan, to whom he eventually signed and where he began his professional career.

During his short stay at Barca, the Italian striker was just 16 years old and is remembered by coaches as quiet and unassuming. Photos from Balotelli’s time at La Masia are still easy to find on the internet. Among others, one of them shows a young Thiago Alcantara.

Anyway, it’s interesting to think about where Mario Balotelli’s career would have gone if things had worked out back then and he had signed for Barcelona. What do you think, would this connection have worked?

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