Mario Balotelli reflects on nearly joining Barcelona at 15

Mario Balotelli’s football journey could have taken an entirely different turn, and in a heartfelt recollection, the Italian-Ghanaian striker revealed how close he was to wearing Barcelona’s colors as a teenager.

“When I was 15 years old, there was a contact from Barcelona,” Balotelli recalled. “I spent about a month there, in Barcelona, but my team at the time asked for a lot of money. I was 15 years old, and they weren’t interested in spending that large amount on a young player. In the end I signed for Inter.”

During his brief time training with the Catalan club, Balotelli was surrounded by future stars. “In the team I played for during that month or so, there was Bojan, Dos Santos, Thiago Alcantara, but I didn’t see the first-team players. No, I didn’t see them,” he added.

Instead, destiny led him to Inter Milan, where he would burst onto the scene and lift the Champions League as a teenager. Looking back, Balotelli’s tale is a reminder of how football paths can twist and turn, with every decision shaping a career in ways no one can predict.