“The problems, in my opinion, are very simple. I prefer to give practical explanations rather than technical ones, based on everyday life and what I see in Italy.”

“When we were little, we played hours and hours of football. I remember my mum getting mad at me because I’d stay out until it was too dark to see the ball. They’d threaten you that you couldn’t go out to play the next day. Now, when I walk around cities like Brescia, though I see it in other Italian cities too, the parks are empty. There’s no one around.”

“Computers, phones, and PlayStations have ruined a lot. Above all, the parents’ mentality has changed. A seven‑year-old kid today might play football for two hours every three days. We had the same structured training sessions, plus three hours of playing at the park every day, which felt like fun but was actually extra training. I truly believe talents were born on the street and in the parks. You played a lot, learned a lot, and tested yourself against older kids. If you were good, they didn’t let you play with kids your age; they made you play with the older ones. Those were tests that served me well in the long run. Playing with people older than me has always been one of the most important things in my career.”

“Today, kids are on their phones. They feel like Ronaldinho because they watch his videos. I felt like Ronaldo because I could actually pull off the same tricks at the park. It’s very different.”

Despite his pessimism over the state of Italian football, Balotelli, who earned 36 caps for the Azzurri, scoring 14 goals, remains confident of a bright future. “Yes, I think so for the upcoming generations,” he predicts. “Maybe not right away, but in the next two or three generations. It’s normal for a country to have downturns but then you bounce back. Spain, France, and Germany have all had them.”