Retired Italian striker Francesco Totti, who spent his entire professional career with Seria A giants Roma, recently revealed that he had a chance to end his soccer career in MLS. According to Totti, when he was retiring in 2017, he had offers to come and play in the United States, but he turned that opportunity down.
“I would have ruined a 25-year career,” – Totti explained his reasons to La Repubblica. “I always said I would only wear one shirt and I’m a man of my word.“
Francesco Totti made his debut for Roma in 1992 as a 16-year-old and slowly worked his way into the team’s starting line-up in the next four years. Then in 1997 he received a chance to play a more prominent role and took the most of it. In the following years, Totti emerged as the team’s biggest star and led Roma to Seria A title in 2001, their first in almost 20 years.
His great games didn’t go unnoticed, and Francesco Totti began attracting interest from bigger Italian clubs as well as other European powerhouses. Still, Totti decided to stay in Rome and reject record-breaking moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Totti ended up playing 786 career games for Roma in all competitions, scoring 307 goals through his 25 years of professional career. He retired in 2017 and currently serves as the club’s sporting director.
