Mario Balotelli's intention was always to be in France this summer. When the draw was made for the Euros, he posted on Instagram that he couldn't wait for it. Antonio Conte's reaction was withering. What does he mean he can't wait? Can't wait to watch it on TV? As expected, Balotelli was nowhere near the Italy squad, but he has still ended up in France all the same. Just later than he thought.

On Tuesday night, Balotelli touched down in the Cote d'Azur. Then on transfer deadline day, he underwent a medical and signed a contract with Nice. To call it box office -- even if it has caused quite a stir in France during a window when Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Luiz left Ligue 1 -- would still be an overstatement.

Generally speaking the waning interest in Balotelli is almost as sad as the disdain with which any effort to kickstart his career is received. Patience has been lost. People are cynical and are entirely justified to feel that way. Time and again, Balotelli has done nothing to prove them wrong.

And yet hope is always the last thing to die. No matter how many times we have been disappointed and told ourselves that by now we really ought to know better, the idea that Peter Pan might finally grow up and fulfil his undoubted potential remains strangely captivating. Our better angels want him to do well. It's one of the reasons his career and this transfer still piques our curiosity.

Another reaction, of course, is: Has it really come to this? With all due respect, if you had said four years ago that he would be turning out in the red and black of Nice and not Milan, people would have laughed. You probably recall he was appearing on the front page of Time magazine and featured on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world not that long ago.

Things didn't go well for Balotelli his second time around at AC Milan, but he gets a new chance at Nice.

These were the days of the Incredible Hulk, when Balotelli blasted a couple of goals past Germany in the Euro 2012 semifinal. He then ripped off his blue Italy jersey not to reveal a "Why Always Me?" T-shirt -- like he did in Man City's 6-1 win against United in the Manchester derby -- but to flex the muscles from whence his super powers derived.

For a brief flashing moment even neutrals believed the hype and foresaw Balotelli, then only 21, keeping the promise he made to one day win the Ballon d'Or. Now 26, you would have thought his next move would be for the kind of money Gareth Bale or Paul Pogba commanded. Quite depressingly, his value has been in a downward spiral instead and he joins Nice for nothing. "Balotelli on a free is still paying over the odds by Nice," joked Jamie Carragher.

We couldn't have known it at the time, but that night in Warsaw four years ago -- the quarter-of-an-hour in which he smashed the Germans to smithereens -- was Balotelli's peak, the apex of his career. Pundits from Billy Costacurta to Zvone Boban have even argued that it was the last time Balotelli did anything of genuine significance in the game. While that might seem to be pushing it -- Balotelli did score 12 goals in 13 games in the first six months of his first spell at Milan -- they're right at least when it comes to the world stage. Four years is an awful long time. You might say "Waiting for Balotelli" is football's adaptation of a Samuel Beckett play.

When he moved to Liverpool, his agent Mino Raiola made no secret that it was his client's last chance in the calcio che conta -- the football that matters. He even revealed to La Gazzetta dello Sport that he had made a bet with Balotelli. "You've got a four-year contract and I am not getting you out of it. Either you leave Liverpool for 60 or 70 million and I win my bet or you die there." Raiola lost his bet. Balotelli has gone from being his highest-profile, most-talked-about client along with Ibrahimovic to the one we see and hear little of. Pogba has eclipsed him. Romelu Lukaku and Blaise Matuidi are subjects of greater interest.

Balotelli no longer makes headlines on or off the pitch. The myth-making has stopped. The eccentricity goes unseen. The larger than life public persona, blown up beyond his control and comfort level by a hype machine turned up to 11, has shrunk. No one would ever have put Balotelli down as the shy and retiring type and yet he has retreated from the limelight for a number of understandable reasons. He isn't quite as reclusive as J.D. Salinger, who perhaps would have discerned similarities in Balotelli and a 21st century Italian Holden Caulfield, but the pursuit of a relatively simpler, more balanced life is clear.

People all too easily forget Balotelli is human just like you and me. He's now a father and the estrangement from the mother of his daughter has not made things easy. His adoptive father has also passed away. Events like these in anybody's life put things into perspective and force you to re-evaluate what's important. Contrary to his image, Balotelli isn't a bad boy. He means well. Maybe, just maybe, Nice is the right place for him.

Italy captain Gigi Buffon hailed his move for its apparent "humility," opening a door should his performances merit a call-up that had seemed closed forever after his last appearance for the Azzurri when he was hooked at half-time against Uruguay out of fear that he would get sent off.

Gigi Buffon has gone as far as to say that a good showing in France could pave the way back to the national team for Balotelli.

Going back to Serie A would have been the wrong thing to do. It would have been romantic to see him at Bologna where great strikers from Beppe Signori to Roberto Baggio traditionally went to resurrect themselves, or Palermo, the city where he was born. But the media attention would have been too intense. He would never have been left alone even at Chievo. The other options were Ajax, Sion, Besiktas and Wolves. Again, with all due respect, that's how far his standing has fallen.

You can hope Nice's intentions are good and that this isn't just a publicity stunt by the new owners, who could be accused of wanting a big name just for effect and an excuse, rather appropriately in Balotelli's case, to set off some fireworks. Manager Lucien Favre didn't seem too enthused last week and spoke for many of his peers when he said: "He hasn't played in I don't know how long. I haven't seen him on TV for years."

Although right to be sceptical, Favre would be wrong, as we all would, to write Balotelli off as a completely lost cause. Nice fans appreciate this better than most. They have seen wasted talent belatedly and improbably fulfilled before. Hatem Ben Arfa, who for the record is a full three years older than Balotelli, surprised us all last season by finally playing to his potential, scoring 17 goals and laying on six assists for his teammates before realising his dream and moving to PSG on a free.

For now this is the model for Balotelli to follow, as is the story of Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy's great unifier who was born in Nice. For someone who divides his country and opinions around the world, Balotelli could think of few better people to be inspired by. "Garibaldi sent me," he quipped on Instagram and who knows this could be his personal Risorgimento -- the Resurgence his career so badly needs.

James covers the Italian Serie A and European football for ESPN FC Follow him on Twitter @JamesHorncastle.