Francesco Totti has played for boyhood club Roma his entire career
As legenardy Italian prepares for the MLS, SunSport profiles the great midfielder, who is football's ultimate one-club man
Francesco Totti looks certain to move to MLS side, New York Cosmos, at the end of the season.
The sensational Italian star who — in his pomp — could have chosen any club in Europe to sign for is now 39.
Real Madrid were desperate for Totti's signature in the early 2000s.
But he stayed loyal to the club closest to his heart.
SunSport looks back at the career of the ultimate one-club man.
Loyalty is an adjective which is bandied about in football a lot.
One club men such as Ryan Giggs, Carles Puyol and Paolo Maldini are lauded for their commitment to their hometown clubs.
But they were all guaranteed to be challenging for the biggest trophies on offer year in year out. Francesco Totti?
The Roma playmaker was the best midfielder on the planet in 2004 — and would have won the Ballon d’Or but for an off-the-ball incident at that summer’s European Championships.
Everyone wanted him.
He could have left for a bigger club and maybe challenged for the Champions League.
However, despite never truly challenging for Europe’s biggest prizes, he lived every young boy’s dream.
Totti made his debut for his hometown club in 1992 as a 16-year-old, and became a first-team regular at the age of 17.
Still going strong at the tender age of 39, he is now Serie A’s second top goalscorer ever with 244 — 30 shy of Silvio Piola’s record.
His career highlight would have been his only Scudetto in 2001, despite winning the World Cup with Italy five years later.
Roma have won three Serie A titles in their 89 year history — and Totti was at forefront of their last and most famous victory.
At a time when Italian teams could afford to buy any player they wanted, it was a homegrown talent who captained the Scudetto-winning team that season.
Arch-rivals Lazio, who they themselves have only ever won the title twice, were the holding champions when Roma won it — making victory all the more sweeter.
As far as personal honours go, he can look back with a pride after he won the European Golden Boot in 2007.
In a historical city — his hometown city — which has had its fair share of leaders of the millennia, Totti is the Emperor of Rome.
He is a hero to the people. When he speaks, everyone listens. He is one of them.
And that is something no Champions League could ever replace.