Topics: Ligue 1, Olympique Marseille, Mario Balotelli, OGC Nice, Transfer
The Italian striker joins OM on a six-month loan, with a clause in his deal to make the deal permanent based on his performances.

Mario Balotelli's first two seasons with OGC Nice were impressive, but his third one was truly disappointing. His constant brushes against coach Patrick Vieira complicated things as time went by, but now the Italian footballer has a chance to start fresh.

The striker has been unveiled today as Olympique Marseille's solution for their goalscoring woes. Les Olympiens are currently ranked seventh in the French top flight, and they see Balotelli as the man that will turn things around in front of goal.

The club had pursued Balotelli's signing for almost six months, and once they were able to announce it to the world, the team chose to post an epic video on their Twitter feed.

Balotelli shared his satisfaction once his transfer deal was confirmed.

"I'm looking forward to playing with Marseille. OM is a great club, and their fans are very passionate. I was hoping to come here," Balotelli said.

Although he declared himself ready to play, coach Rudi Garcia wants him to be fully fit due to his recent inactivity.

"He has not played for a month and has not trained for a month. It is impossible to see him start on Friday even though he'd be eligible to play. We'll have to wait and see how long it will be until he is 100% ready," García said.

The 28-year-old striker has scored over 150 goals for his clubs and country since he made his debut for Inter in 2007. He scored 43 goals for Nice in all comps during his first two years at Nice, but he failed to find the back of the net in the ongoing season with his former club.