Former €40m attacker set to join Serie D side with a little help from Mario Balotelli

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 17 Jan 2026 03:29 CST
• 3 min read

Nieuws

Chievo Verona have apparently pulled off a coup as they will likely sign Douglas Costa until the end of the season.

The Brazilian, who previously cost Bayern Munich €30m and Juventus €40m, has been a free agent for six months following a stint in Australia for Sydney FC.

He broke through at Shakhtar as a flying winger and eventually won Bundesliga titles and Serie A titles with the aforementioned sides.

After leaving Juve, the 35-year-old had a nomadic career, playing for Gremio, LA Galaxy, Fluminense and then Sydney FC.

The transfer to Serie D side Chievo materialised due to the connection between Pietro Laterza and one Mario Balotelli.

Laterza owns Chievo as well as Dubai outfit Al-Ittifaq, who have just signed Balotelli. It seems the Premier League winner played a big part in putting Costa in touch with Chievo.

"We met thanks to Mario," Laterza said of Costa.

"I'm a huge fan of Juventus, I remember well his plays and the goals in the Bianconeri. Douglas had other offers from abroad, but he chose Italy."

The current plan is for Douglas Costa to play for Chievo until June before moving to Al-Ittifaq alongside Balotelli.

Balotelli heads to Dubai

Al-Ittifaq will be the 13th club in Balotelli's career.

He has featured for...Lumezzane, Inter, Man City, Milan, Liverpool, Nice, Marseille, Brescia, Monza, Adana Demirspor, Sion, Genoa and will now play for Al-Ittifaq.

Once the prodigy of Italian football, Balotelli is known just as much for his antics off the pitch as for his exploits on it.

After emerging as a talent with Inter, he eventually moved to the Premier League with Man City before spells with Liverpool and Milan.

He is probably best known for his time in the Premier League but in his career he actually made the most league appearances for Nice in Ligue 1.

Most recently, he had an underwhelming spell at Genoa. He made just six appearances for the club and all off them came off the bench, while he failed to score a goal and was booked twice.

He hasn't played a competitive match since December of 2024 and was released by Genoa in the summer which has opened the door for the switch to Dubai.

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