Mario Balotelli seals Serie A return with Genoa transfer

Former Italy forward Mario Balotelli has joined Serie A strugglers Genoa as a free agent, it has been announced.

Balotelli, 34, underwent a medical on Monday before signing a contract with Genoa for the remainder of the season.

“I am pumped. I don’t want to talk much. I just want to get started,” Balotelli said earlier on Monday.

“I’ll give it my all,” he added, addressing the fans.

The former Manchester City player had been without a club since leaving Turkish outfit Adana Demirspor in June.

Balotelli is 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/vnJDtss2c9

— Genoa CFC (@GenoaCFC) October 28, 2024

He last featured in Italy’s top flight in the 2019-20 with Brescia, although he did play in Italy for Serie B Monza in the 2020-21 campaign.

Genoa have turned to Balotelli as they are beset by injuries. Alberto Gilardino’s side have seven players unavailable, including forwards Vitinha, Junior Messias and Caleb Ekuban.

“Balotelli? His story speaks for him, but he cannot solve Genoa’s problems alone,” Gilardino said after Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Lazio left the club in 18th place in Serie A.

“It’s normal that if he arrives with fire to be available to the team he can be of value for his technical quality, he can give us personality. But he will arrive after a period of inactivity. But we trust he can quickly be at the top of his game.”

Balotelli, who scored seven goals in 16 league appearances last season, had been training alone in Brescia while evaluating offers.

Genoa have won one and lost five of their nine league games this season heading into Thursday’s home game against Fiorentina.

They have one of the worst attacks in the competition with only seven goals scored.

A three-time scudetto winner with Inter Milan, Balotelli has occasionally made more headlines off the pitch than on it in his career.

He won 36 caps for Italy but last played for the Azzurri in 2018, although he took part in the national team training camp in January 2022.

Genoa is Balotelli’s 11th club in his career. In addition to Manchester, some of his other clubs include Inter Milan, AC Milan, Brescia, Monza, Liverpool and Marseille.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.