How Totti's Mum vetoed a potential move to Milan
Francesco Totti’s long and illustrious career hasn’t been without its difficult moments: some poor performances with Italy, not winning more than one Scudetto, and nearly being tempted away to Inter when Massimo Moratti was still in charge. ]
But there’s more: writing on The Players’ Tribune, Rome’s eternal captain also revealed that AC Milan came knocking when he was thirteen, but that his Mum slammed the door in their faces!
Here is an extract. Read the whole thing here.
And then when I was 13, there was a knock at our door.
The men from AC Milan were asking me to join their football club. An opportunity to make it with a big Italian club. What would I choose?
Well, it was not my decision, of course.
My mamma was the boss. She still is the boss. And she was rather attached to her boys, let’s say. Like any Italian mother, she was a little overprotective. She did not want me to leave home for fear that something might happen.
“No, no,” she told the directors. That’s all she had to say. “Mi dispiace. No, no.”
That was the end. My first transfer was turned down by the boss.
My father took me and my brother to our matches on the weekend. But Monday through Friday, Mamma was in charge. It was hard saying no to AC Milan. It would have meant a lot of money for our family. But my mother taught me a lesson that day. Your home is the most important thing in life.
Just a few weeks later, after being scouted at one of my youth matches, Roma made me an offer. I was going to wear the yellow and red.
Mamma knew. She helped my career in so many ways. Yes, she was protective — She still is! — but she made so many sacrifices to make sure I was on the pitch every day. I know those early years were hard on her.
