Italian football legend, Francesco Totti admits that he thought of leaving AS Roma for the Spanish capital back in 2004, but ultimately decided to stay at the Italian capital where he has been playing since 1989.
In a letter issued on Thursday on The Players Tribune website, the 39-year-old forward wrote: “There was even a moment 12 years ago when I thought about leaving Roma for Real Madrid. When a very successful team, perhaps the strongest in the world, asks you to join, you start to think about what life might be like elsewhere.
“I had talks with the president of Roma, and that made a difference. But in the end, the talk I had with my family reminded me what life is about,” Totti remembered.
The AS Roma leader, who recently announced that 2016-17 season will be last season of his career, opened up about his opportunity to represent the AC Milan team and described that the Milano team wanted to sign him desperately.
“When I was 13, there was a knock at our door. The men from AC Milan were asking me to join their football club — an opportunity to make it with a big Italian club. What would I choose? Well, it was not my decision, of course,” the 2006 World Cup winner revealed.
“My mamma was the boss. She still is the boss. And she was rather attached to her boys, let’s say. Like any Italian mother, she was a little overprotective. She did not want me to leave home for fear that something might happen,” Totti recalled, who has represented the Italy National Team in 58 games.
The veteran forward also recollected the first time he represented his hometown team, and how proud he was, and still is, to represent for AS Roma for 25 long years.
“Rome is my family, my friends, the people that I love. Rome is the sea, the mountains, the monuments. Rome, of course, is the Romans. Rome is the yellow and red. Rome, to me, is the world. This club, this city, has been my life,” the Italian forward concluded.
