Roma striker Francesco Totti will retire from playing at the end of the season, the club’s new director of football Monchi has announced.
The 40-year-old, who has scored 250 goals in more than 600 appearances for the capital club, is to take on a new non-playing role.
BREAKING: Monchi has confirmed this will be Francesco Totti's final season at Roma as a player.
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) May 3, 2017
End of an era. 😢 pic.twitter.com/WPuhC7rNoa
Speaking as he was presented to the press, Monchi said: “In terms of Totti, I already knew that there was an agreement with the club that this would be his final year as a player, then he’d start as a director.
“Francesco is Roma, I want to be as close to him as possible. I’d love to learn even one per cent of the huge amount that he knows,” Monchi added in quotes reported by several media.
Francesco Totti
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 3, 2017
The King of Rome 👑 pic.twitter.com/2NLC9a3GMu
Totti’s current contract runs until the end of the season, when he will bring down the curtain on a career which has seen him play senior football for just one club.
He has won two Serie A titles, as well as the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa on two occasions each during his 24 years with Roma.
Appearing for his country at all levels from under-15, Totti scored nine goals in 58 senior appearances for Italy before his retirement from international football in 2006 after winning the World Cup.
End of an era. #Totti pic.twitter.com/51RbaBfF1Y
— Copa90 (@Copa90) May 3, 2017
"The icons of Rome are the Colosseum, St Peter's Basilica, and Francesco Totti." - Claudio Ranieri, 2016. pic.twitter.com/IfoAbrgi51
— Messi Minutes (@MessiMinutes) May 3, 2017
