Mario Balotelli was almost a Barcelona player

According to Sport.es, in June 2006, when Mario Balotelli was 16 years old, he had a trial with Barcelona that came very close to becoming a permanent deal. He played three matches with the Barca B Cadet team, scoring eight goals and wowing coaches, who gave the thumbs up to sign him, Sport says. But, even then things weren't easy when dealing with Mario.

His agent demanded more money than Barca were willing to pay ("far from the average figure for a player of his age"), so they ended up passing and Inter stepped in to meet Mario's demands -- an investment that proved to be worth it when Man City paid 30 million for him just four years later.

But it's enough to make you wonder what kind of influence Balotelli would have had Barcelona. Would the cloud of controversy that's hung over him at Inter and City destabilized Barca's happy trophy machine? Would he have thrown Leo Messi like a lawn dart? Sadly, we will never know.

Balotelli hasn't forgotten his time with Barcelona, though. After Italy's friendly against Spain on Wednesday, Balotelli crashed a TV interview with Thiago, who Mario trained with back in 2006, to announce that he is "the greatest." Have a look...

Photo: Sport.es