From Premier League winner to Lupa Castelli? The disastrous downfall of Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli was once touted as one of the most talented, if temperamental, young prospects in Europe.

He's now become something of a running joke with opposition fans enjoying him more than his home supporters thanks to the distraction that he brings to Liverpool. With forwards like Daniel Sturridge, Christian Benteke and Danny Ings at Brendan Rodgers' disposal, it looks like Balotelli would have to endure the title of fourth-choice striker for the 2015/16 season. But Mario has been thrown a lifeline from the most unlikely of places with Italian third-tier side Lupa Castelli wanting to save his career. Honorary president of the Lega Pro club, Marco Amelia, explained that it would be a difficult task to convince the controversial Italian to join but that a clean slate is what's best for Balotelli. "Our intention is to bring our friend, Balotelli, here, a player who at this time needs to start afresh because we see that he does not want to play anymore, has fans opposing him and is no longer able to show his quality,” Amelia told Sky Sport Italia. "For Balotelli, this could be the first step towards cleaning up his act, taking two steps back and showing everyone what he is capable of doing. "I’ll try to call Mario Balotelli. On an economic point of view, we’ll see what happens. I think that at this time Mario needs to find the will he needs to compete. "It will be tough, it will be almost impossible as it is something that football has never seen, but he could do it."