Like Neymar, this former Man City star is unrecognizable due to his overweight

The best players of this century have undoubtedly been Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. They shone for two decades at the top of European soccer and now, despite being close to 40 years old, they continue to show great performances with Al-Nassr and Inter Miami, respectively. In addition to their undisputed talent, they have had an indispensable virtue to be so successful: hard work. Both have always been very professional and it shows.

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But there are other examples of players as talented as them, but who did not have the necessary dedication to reach that level. One example is Neymar Junior, undoubtedly one of the most skilled forwards with the ball at his feet in recent decades. Unlike Leo and CR7, the Brazilian player has had many conflicts off the field and on more than one occasion has been accused of not being physically fit due to his excesses.

Another example is Mario Balotelli. The Italian striker was a star of several of the most important clubs in the world, such as Inter, AC Milan, Liverpool and Manchester City, as well as the Italian National Team. But he also had unprofessional behaviors off the field that prevented him from sustaining himself in the elite of world soccer.

That's why his career got worse and worse. In 2016 he left AC Milan after a season in which he scored only 3 goals in 23 games and joined Nice of France. There he had two very good years, but then his performances started to decline and he started a path through several teams like Olympique Marseille, Brescia and Monza, until in 2021 he arrived at Adana Demirspor.

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How he is doing now?

Mario Balotelli has shown good performances in the Turkish Super League: there he has 22 goals in 40 games, an average of 0.55. But it is not his goals that catches the attention of fans around the world, but his appearance. Recently, images of the striker playing for Adana Demirspor were released, where he is clearly overweight and far from the appearance he had in his best days in Serie A and the Premier League.