Since the former Juventus coach took over the Azzurri, there has been no place for mercurial striker Mario Balotelli in Antonio Conte's refurbished squad.

Following their 2006 World Cup triumph, Italy experienced a series of highs and lows, including reaching the 2012 EURO finals but being dumped out of the group stages in the past two World Cups. However, under new coach Antonio Conte, they now appear to be getting back on track. Since the former Juventus tactician assumed the reigns after the failure in Brazil, the Azzurri have won five and drawn one out of their competitive and friendly matches thus far.

Serie A fans will certainly know the former midfielder for his no-nonsense approach that had turned the once underachieving Bianconeri into Italy's strongest side over the past few seasons, with a defensive unit that has been touted not just as one of the toughest in Italy, but across Europe as well. In their last six games, not only have Italy not lost a single match, but they have only conceded two goals, whilst scoring nine.

One of these was actually an unfortunate own goal by Giorgio Chiellini - who netted all three in the 2-1 win against Azerbaijan - meaning that Croatia's Ivan Perišić is so far the only opponent to have been able to net against Conte's squad.

Under Conte, players like Graziano Pellè, who had been quietly firing in the goals in the Netherlands but had been repeatedly snubbed by the national set-up have had the chance to finally don the famed Azzurri kit. The same can be said of others like Simone Zaza and Stefano Okaka, who at 23 and 25 respectively have performed well for Sassuolo and Sampdoria this season. Yet, interestingly, there has been no room for a certain striker that appeared to enjoy immunity under predecessor Cesare Prandelli.

With Cesare Prandelli, Mario Balotelli was virtually "untouchable", despite his antics on and off the pitch

Mario Balotelli, at 24, has fared pretty decently, at least statistics-wise for his national squad, especially when compared to what other attackers the team currently has to offer. With quite some time to go until he reaches the latter years of his footballing career, the mercurial attacker has netted a total of 13 goals, more than any other striker that has been called up as of late, including Antonio Cassano's haul of 10. In fact, the six strikers Conte has selected - Alessio Cerci, Ciro Immobile, Manolo Gabbiadini, Brazilian-born Eder, as well as the aforementioned Pellè and Zaza - have netted just three goals amongst them.

Although, perhaps to be fair, Eder has yet to be capped whilst Gabbiadini, Pellè, and Zaza have just accumulated eight caps between them. And the only other player to find the back of the net under Conte - Dortmund's Immobile - has collected a total of nine appearances so far.

A new man on the bench means a new modus operandi and overall attitude for the team, as well. Conte has made no secret of his footballing philosophy - that no player is bigger than the collective. Yet, perhaps in an effort to show some good faith, or more likely due to the fact that they were set to face off for their EURO 2016 qualifiers against group leaders Croatia, he opted to go out on a limb and add Balotelli to the squad back in November 2014. This was, of course, not without some questions as he had failed to set the ground alight since making a move to Liverpool earlier that summer.

Brendan Rodgers, shown here with his new striker, has cut a frustrated figure whilst trying to get the best out of Balotelli

Yet, shortly before the match, the former Manchester City, Inter, and AC Milan striker, was then removed from the group. The "official" reason was given as a groin injury in training; however, reports from Italy indicated that a squabble between player and coach was what sent "Super Mario" packing from the team's training ground.

Conte, apparently frustrated with the player's refusal to obey directions and put in any effort, had finally reached his breaking point. Following the draw with Croatia and prior to their win over Albania, the ex-Bianconeri tactian had some damning words when asked about the player's future with the national squad:

"I'm not so arrogant as to claim that I'm different from the great coaches, but the past tells us that they failed to change Balotelli," he was quoted as saying by Sky Sports (as per RAI Sport).

As fans will be aware, Balotelli has played for a whole slew of managers, including current Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho, widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the game. And the Portuguese tactician experienced quite his fair share of frustration with him, recently revealing that he even shockingly snubbed a meeting with his boss in order to attend a Formula 1 event.

Even Mourinho was unable to really figure out a way to deal with Balotelli during his time at Inter

So far, Italy has been going strong and with their clash with Bulgaria - a team that they have not lost to in a competitive fixture since April 6, 1968 - coming up, they are comfortably looking like the clear favourites to take one step closer to booking their ticket to the EURO 2016 tournament next summer. And with each successive game and successful result, there increasingly appears to be a slimmer and slimmer chance that Balotelli will ever find himself in an Azzurri kit anytime soon.

Addio per sempre alla Nazionale? Balotelli appears to have found his way back in blocked by Conte

Unfortunately for the player - but good for the collective - the team appears to be rolling along nicely without him. Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci, however, has come out to point out that the curtain has not yet fallen perhaps on his international career just yet.

"Mario is not in a good period of his career, but he was an asset in the last European Championship," he noted.

"He is [still] welcome in this team, but he has to be part of our group [and pull his weight] as this group is devoted to hard work."

And with some interesting new reports from Italy surrounding a bit of controversy regarding midfielder Claudio Marchisio's injury whilst on training, there is already growing speculation that Conte, who has had a difficult relationship with Italian clubs since taking over, could be preparing for a shock departure.

Still, that remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that Balotelli, who will be 25 this summer and will likely be on the hunt for a new club, has quite a tough task ahead if he wishes to have any chance of ending his spell in international limbo. But the question remains: will Italy have successfully found their footing sans the presence of "Super Mario"?

If recent results are anything to go by, the answer, unfortunately for the player, is a resounding yes. Nonetheless, as any football fans is well aware, the unexpected becomes the expected in the world's most popular sport, so indeed, coupled with his relatively young age, a comeback is certainly not outside the realm of possibility.