Totti: “Why I rejected AC Milan”
AC Milan tried on a number of occasions to bring Francesco Totti at San Siro but the emperor of Rome decided to play his entire career in the capital.
Francesco Totti, legendary captain of Roma and World Cup winner with the Italian national team in 2006, in an interview for Il Venerdì di Repubblica, made a summary of his long career and the difficult choice to tie himself forever to Roma. The former Giallorossi number 10 also revealed that at a very young age he could have become an AC Milan player after catching the eye of the Rossoneri talent-scouts.
Totti’s memory is very lucid even if the event took place many years ago: “It’s true, Milan was ready to pay 300 million lira when I was only 12 years old. In that case my family said no. Especially my mother. She’s old-fashioned, apprehensive, possessive. Dad worked late. She was always behind me. She wanted me all to herself“.
Therefore, family reasons behind Totti’s choice to remain in the capital and reject the proposal of Milan, who then tried to sign him a few years later, precisely in 2003 when Silvio Berlusconi personally attempted to close a deal but the Giallorossi club refused to negotiate. Who knows how it would have been the story of a world-class champion like Totti at Milanello, an extraordinary player but with a few medals in his trophy cabinet.