The 25-year-old is a Champions League winner, but has no future at Liverpool nor any concrete offers for his services, and only he can reverse the slide.
Corriere dello Sport’s front page was adorned with a ‘Balotelli amazing’ banner.
A driver along the Piazza del Popolo in Rome, meanwhile, changed the destination on the front of his bus to simply read “Super Mario.”
Four years ago, the striker was the architect of what the German press described as their albtraum - nightmare - as his superb double for Italy denied Joachim Low's side a place in the final of Euro 2012.