Francesco Totti has revealed he was close to leaving Roma in 2003 and that his family initially wanted him to join Lazio.
The Giallorossi legend retired as a one-club man after the 2016-17 season, scorig 307 goals in 785 games during his career in the Eternal City.
But the 43-year-old looks back at the start of his career and reveals that he could have opted to play for local rivals Lazio.
Francesco Totti has revealed he was close to leaving Roma in 2003 and that his family initially wanted him to join Lazio.
The Giallorossi legend retired as a one-club man after the 2016-17 season, scorig 307 goals in 785 games during his career in the Eternal City.
But the 43-year-old looks back at the start of his career and reveals that he could have opted to play for local rivals Lazio.
“My mother was a Lazio fan because of my grandmother. I was playing at Lodigiani and my brother Riccardo called me and my parents to talk about my two options. I had no doubt, my father and my brother were supporting Roma,” he told the Spanish magazine Libero.
“I chose Roma, but my family would have preferred Lazio because they would have paid me. Fortunately, I made the right choice.”
But despite leaving the sport as a one-man legend, Totti reveals that he was only formalities away from a transfer to Real Madrid in 2003.
“At least twice. I remember once, in 2003. I had one year left of my contract. There were some problems with the President for other reasons, not my own.
“Real Madrid offered me an amount to go there. Altogether, something like €20m or €25m, and a lot of money to Roma. I was 80 per cent sure I would leave, as I wasn’t going through my best moment with Roma.
“They offered me a lot, anything, even Figo’s No10, as they would sell him to Inter. There was Raul, the captain and club symbol of Madrid, who was the one who earned the most.
“Every player who arrived had to earn less than him. I though about it a lot. Ilary (before we were married) told me that she was leaving her job and that she would come with me.
“In the end [President Franco] Sensi spoke to me, we clarified everything… and I stayed. It was a choice from heart, where family, friends and Roma weighed a lot. I felt like doing something different from what others normally do, who don’t usually reject clubs like that.
“I felt like a great player and, at the same time, different. With the love for a shirt. Playing with them [Real Madrid], belonging to that group, would have been fantastic. Real Madrid are not a normal team, everyone would have liked to play there."