Francesco Totti is a legend at AS Roma. In fact, it’s rare to find a player for any top team who dedicated himself to one club like Totti did.
So Totti was asked, should Roma retire his #10 shirt? His response was exactly what you’d expect from someone of his ilk.
He said no. Why? Because he doesn’t want to squash a young kid’s childhood dream, a dream he himself had as a child.
In a video posted to Twitter where Totti is seen with an interviewer taking questions from fans, he gave the response. “I have always said no, they shouldn’t, but in the end it is a decision for the club to make. For the youngsters, for the kids, it is natural that they are all going to dream of wearing the number 10 shirt for Roma. I had that dream as well, and fortunately I got to live it. So, to take a child’s dream of doing it too, that would upset me.”
He followed that up with the knowledge that retiring it may be the ultimate decision, because the pressure that comes with the next to wear the number would be immense and unfair. “However, at the same time, we know that now it will never be easy for someone to wear the number 10 shirt at Roma. So with time the club will come to the right decision.”
He finished the bit with a solid wisecrack, that he wouldn’t mind one guy taking over the shirt.
“Who knows, if another player comes along – another Totti, or a Messi – we can sort something out. If it was Messi, he could certainly take it! I think he would take it anyway, but if not I’d bring it to him at the airport!” Safe to say we know who Totti idolizes.
We should all be a little more like Francesco Totti, humble but realistic. Respectful, but understanding. They don’t all come like he did.
