Mario Balotelli’s brother Enoch Barwuah has signed a one-year contract with the Premier League team Qormi FC.

He arrived in Malta yesterday.

Last month, rumours were rife he was going to sign for top Romanian club Steaua Bucharest. In November, he had joined England’s non-league Salford City on a free transfer.

Qormi recently appointed Italian Tommaso Volpi as their new coach. Mr Volpi’s wife is a distant relative of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

Volpi said Enoch Balotelli, who trained for the first time with Qormi this evening, was recommended by football agent Claudio Chiellini, who is the brother of Juventus and Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

"We have a working rapport with (Claudio) Chiellini (Enoch Balotelli's agent), who is the brother of Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini," Volpi told Times of Malta.

"He proposed Balotelli who is a young player born in 1993. Certainly, he needs to grow. We will monitor him in training for a few days but today, he's a player of Qormi. He has signed a contract with Qormi.

"Logically, we will do what we think is best for Balotelli. Last year he didn't play much. We will decide whether to keep him or loan him to a partner club."