Totti Admits Interest in Coaching Career

Francesco Totti with the ball at his feet is a sight to behold; every flick, every touch and every shot is a work of art, so it’s no surprise that he’s a bit reticent to let that go. While Totti has signed on for one more year as Roma’s captain—and quite frankly it wouldn’t surprise me if he plays an additional year beyond that—the presumption was that he’d move upstairs after his playing days were over, serving as a director for his beloved club.

Well, that presumption may prove false, as Totti opened the door to a completely different retirement plan, coaching. Speaking to La Repubblica, Totti admitted a desire, or at least an interest, in a coaching career.

I used to say that I saw myself exclusively in a directorial role, but when you’re about to retire something snaps in your head and you realise how hard it would be to give up having the ball at your feet...I therefore won’t rule out a future experience as a Coach. If many of my ex-teammates have done it, then so can I

Totti, we can only assume, is referring to Vincenzo Montella, who made a relatively painless transition to managing once his playing days were over, but the history of sports is littered with legendary players who fell flat on their faces as coaches/managers, so we can’t simply assume his brilliance on the pitch will translate to the sidelines.

But that’s a matter for another day, in the here and now Totti remains Roma’s captain for another season and a director for several more after that—the real interesting question, were this career change ever come to fruition, would be where would Totti coach?

Would he start off in the youth ranks, a smaller Serie A club or would he make the leap right to Roma? For as unfathomable as it was to picture Totti in another club’s shirt, it would be equally disconcerting to see him leading anyone other than Roma to glory as a manager.

Time will certainly tell, but if we’ve learned one thing over the past twenty years, its this: Francesco Totti can do anything.