I´m Italian not Ghanaian, insists Balotelli

Inter Milan’s teenage star Mario Balotelli pinned his colours firmly to Italy on Thursday by insisting that he does not want to play for the land of his forefathers.

Balotelli was born in Palermo to Ghanaian immigrants, whose surname is Barwuah, but when he was three years old he was entrusted to an Italian family, called Balotelli.

Due to Italian law he could not request Italian citizenship until he turned 18, last month, as he was never formally adopted and now he is part of the Italy under-21 squad.

“I’m Italian, I feel Italian, I will always play for Italy,” he said.

“I’ve never considered playing for Ghana, even two years ago when they called me up.”

He signed for Inter in 2006 and made his first team breakthrough last season, at just 17 years of age.

Ghana had tried to call him up for their national team but Balotelli turned them down several times to pursue his dream of playing for Italy.