Roma icon Francesco Totti has admitted to feeling a sense of deep loss after retiring from top-flight football in mid-2017. “You’re never ready for a day like this, but there’s a beginning and there’s an end,” he revealed in an exclusive interview to Sky Sport.
🗣️ #Totti, le parole sul futuro e la dedica emozionante ai tifosi della Roma ❤️https://t.co/Ao97hCWHIw
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However, the 46-year-old hopes to revive his excitement for the beautiful game, perhaps in the form of a managerial career at the highest level.
“The faces people, from children to the adults you saw growing up, touch you. It means that in all those years I always did what people wanted me to do. The fans gave me the strength, the drive to go all the way. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after saying goodbye to football. Now I hope to find something else that excites me and makes me feel good.”
Totti functioned as a Giallorossi director after retiring, but however soon announced his resignation due to not being involved enough in the club’s decision-making processes.
“After making the transition from footballer to manager, I realized I was cumbersome, because I didn’t have the possibility to express my opinion. The problem of football is that in clubs there must be players, those who understand football and not, with all due respect, the lawyers and accountants who think they know how to stay in a club.”
He disclosed the circumstances surrounding his retirement half a decade ago.
“It wasn’t easy to leave Roma, but I was thinking about it for months. I had no credibility, I wasn’t part of the project, I was the mascot, I was Totti. that was enough. I thought I could be a resource, maybe I wasn’t ready or maybe they didn’t let me sit in the center of the table. But when there was a problem I was ready to intervene. I would rather die than say goodbye, I never thought I’d being able to leave Rome on my own initiative, my first family.”
Totti then backed fellow 2006 World Cup winning teammate and Italian icon Alessandro Del Piero to lead by example at Juventus.
“Alex and I have always respected each other, A player like him who gave everything to Juve for 20 years, I think it’s only right that he be within the club. Not only for him, but for the club, for the people, for what he’s done, for the footballing ability he has. Who better than him knows how to move in the locker room, how to choose players for the current team?”
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