An unexpected chance for Balotelli – can Mario fire Italy to World Cup?

Mario Balotelli's call-up to the Italy training camp, more than three years after his last cap, has raised eyebrows both in his homeland and around Europe.

The 31-year-old, who now plays in Turkey for Adana Demirspor, is one of 36 players named for a three-day camp as Roberto Mancini looks at his options for March's World Cup play-off semi-final with North Macedonia.

The national team need to win two rounds of play-offs to qualify for Qatar after finishing second to Switzerland in qualifying, just months after winning Euro 2020.

Italian football journalist Daniele Verri says the potential return of Balotelli, who has scored 14 goals in 36 caps, is like the manager «going back to a second-hand car» but thinks fans «owe Mancini some faith».

«He must not promise me anything, as I must not promise him anything,» said Mancini on Wednesday. «We will evaluate if he can help.»

Balotelli has impressed this season — the «most disciplined and devoted» member of his team according to a Turkish writer — and seems to have avoided off-field antics.

How has it come to this, how has Balotelli fared in recent years and is this a gamble which could pay off?

Balotelli was once one of Europe's hottest prospects, winning the 2010 Golden Boy award for the best young player in the world.

By the age of 21 he had won three Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and a Champions League title with Inter Milan and the Premier League and FA Cup with Manchester City — an Italian treble with Jose Mourinho and the rest under Mancini.

He was well known for his off-pitch shenanigans at City — but the performances were often worth the hassle.

Balotelli was in the team of the tournament at Euro 2012 and in the 2012-13 Serie A team of the year when at AC Milan.

Then the decline