Mario Balotelli is looking for a new team after a year.
On Friday (June 15), Fabrizio Romano, a journalist who follows the European soccer transfer market, announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account that “Balotelli has decided to part ways with Sion. They have agreed to terminate the contract and the signing took place today.”
The Italian striker was once a promising player. He made his professional debut with Italian Serie C (third division) club Lumezzane before moving to one of Italy’s top teams, Inter Milan, in 2007 and making his Italian national team debut in 2010. Despite getting into a lot of trouble at a young age, his natural talent earned him a number of big clubs. After Inter, he played for Manchester City, AC Milan, and Liverpool.
His career seemed to be falling apart at Liverpool, but under Lucien Favre’s tutelage, he bounced back in the French Ligue 1. He scored over 15 league goals in two consecutive seasons with Nice. He then moved to Olympique Marseille, where he scored eight goals in 15 games in half a season.
However, since Marseille, where he only played in the second half of the 2018-2019 season, he hasn’t been able to stay with a team for long. Between January 2019 and last summer, he bounced around between Marseille, Brescia, Monza, Adana de Mierspor, and Sion for about three and a half years.
He parted ways with Sion after just one season. Sion had finished last season at the bottom of the Swiss Super League and were relegated to the Swiss Challenge League (second division) after a playoff. Balotelli was a solid scorer with six goals in 18 league games, but missed a number of games due to injury and was unable to prevent the team’s relegation.
Balotelli, who celebrated his 33rd birthday last month, is now looking for his 12th club. His goal-scoring form hasn’t worn off and several clubs are still interested. It’s possible that he could return to his old club rather than a new one. Sion’s former club, Demirspor of the Turkkiye Ligue 1, 스포츠토토 are reportedly interested in taking Balotelli back. Balotelli scored 18 goals in 31 games for Demirspor in the 2021-2022 season, finishing second in the league.