Italian football star Mario Balotelli has reportedly paid the owner of a Naples bar €2,000 to ride his moped into the sea and publishing the footage on Instagram.

Former Inter, Milan, Manchester City and Liverpool star Balotelli, 28, was filmed making a bet with the owner of a bar in Mergellina on the coast of Naples.

Egged on by a group of people gathered around, the man is seen getting onto his Vespa while dressed in his pants, before riding it off the street and into the sea, accompanied by howls of delight. 

The man later told reporters that “my moped was only worth €600 anyway,” according to the Football Italia website.

The striker later posted footage on his Instagram Stories to his 8.8 million followers, showing that the Vespa had been retrieved and was remarkably still in working order.