Welcome to Calcio Square, an email newsletter dedicated to Serie A and Italian football. Every Thursday, Anthony Lopopolo picks out a player, team, coach, or trend that's making waves in Serie A. Today's issue is about Mario Balotelli.

Mario Balotelli's career has entered its final act. It hasn't followed any particular script or met our expectations. He's 34 years old, more than a decade removed from the Euro 2012 semifinal takedown of Germany that promised a big future ahead. It ended being nothing more than a red herring.

That's not to say Balotelli has wasted his time in the intervening years. He's played in five different countries and experienced a lot. To some extent, he's the same player, just as prone to a booking as he's ever been. In other aspects, he's different, more comfortable in his own skin than he's ever been. He had a lot to lose before. He doesn't anymore.

Which makes his move back to Italy all the more peculiar. After spending the past three seasons in the football wilderness with Switzerland's FC Sion and Turkey's Adana Demirspor, Balotelli made a return to Serie A his priority. Primarily because he had unfinished business there.

"I'll smash Serie A," he said while cursing out a Twitch streamer who questioned his recent form. "Fuck off, both you and Serie A."

Balotelli hasn't been a smash hit. Though he scored 18 goals during his first season in Turkey, he managed just six the following year in Switzerland and another seven upon his return to Demirspor last season. He didn't play in those leagues because he was in the form of his life. He played there because clubs agreed to pay him the salary of someone in the form of his life. Balotelli's total pre-tax salary across those three seasons surpassed €15 million, according to Capology. No team in the top five leagues would've offered him that kind of dough.

So he followed the money. And who could blame him? The time had come to pack his bags for one final tour.

Now he's returning home. Just not to enjoy retirement. He signed with Genoa to prove a point.

Balotelli played for four other teams in Italy and encountered problems each time. When he left, it always seemed like he'd never come back. The last time he played in Serie A, with hometown club Brescia, he kicked a ball toward a handful of fans making monkey noises at him. He even got flak from his own supporters for being the "arrogant" one in this deplorable exchange.

There's no getting around it: Being a prominent Black player in Italy made Balotelli a reluctant political figure. Oftentimes, he wanted nothing to do with the discussion. He just wanted to play football. But the media wouldn't let him. He was expected to be something he wasn't: more of a spokesperson for the game than a center-forward with an incredible shot. He still brought a lot of scrutiny onto himself. He was a selfish teammate at times, a suck on the field when things didn't go his way. But the spotlight always seemed harsher on Balotelli than anyone else — even when he wasn't setting off fireworks or saying stupid shit.

So you can understand the source of his anger and why he's been holding onto it. The return to Genoa isn't without hitches — he's on a team fighting against relegation and reporting to a coach who's publicly berated him — but perhaps it's a chance to show people who think they know him that he has more depth than the narrator of his story has previously suggested.

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