Totti: "I turned down Real Madrid in 2004, now I'd cost 200 million"
The Italian legend spoke about the disappointing end to his footballing career and about how love stopped him from moving to Los Blancos.
His emotional farewell in May was felt around the world, but Francesco Totti holds onto some bitter memories from his final year as a footballer in which there were much publicised fall outs with then-Roma manager, Luciano Spalletti.
Totti's unhappy final year at Roma
Il Capitano Giallorosso talked about that, and more, during an in-depth interview with Sky Italia.
"I never had a face to face with Spalletti, and maybe I never will. I would have liked to finish my career in a different way," the Roma legend stated.
"If I were him, I’d have dealt with the player, and more so the person, differently. I’d have spoken with him and confronted the issues.
“In any case, I’ve been able to make the step from player to Roma director and I did it in the right spirit: that of harmony, intelligence and maturity. I grew up on that pitch and I’ll die on it too.
Totti's Real Madrid rejection to keep the love
Looking further back on his career, Totti confirmed that he could have signed for Real Madrid, but chose not to as he wanted to remain with the club he loved.
"There was a very important offer from Madrid in 2004, but I decided to give up on lots of titles so that I'd always wear just one shirt. This was what mattered most to me. In the end, instead, I received love and passion, which for me were more important than winning cups elsewhere. I put Roma ahead of everything."
“I still won the Scudetto, Italian Super Cup and Coppa Italia with Roma, but that didn’t put me in a position to challenge the other players [for the Ballon d'Or which he said he missed out on due to his choice to stay loyal].”
The creative midfielder knows his worth though and when asked about how much he'd cost in the current crazy transfer market he simply replied: "I think 200 million euros."