Totti Turns Down NY Cosmos Offer, Accepts Director Role at Roma

Throughout this past year, we aired our grievances with Roma many times over for their mishandling of Francesco Totti’s final season, and while Totti was not blameless in the fiasco, our stance was simple: if any player on earth had earned the right to call it a day on their own terms, it was Totti. For his service, his loyalty and his excellence, Totti was owed that much, but the past, even the immediate past, is prologue. The most disturbing part of his “retirement” (remember, it’s CdT policy to frame that in quotes) was simply that it may have opened the door for Totti to play for another, decidedly inferior club; after all, the man had an itch that needed to be scratched, and as sickening as it would have been to see him in another shirt, we wouldn’t begrudge him that opportunity.

While the immediate chatter involved Alessandro Nesta’s Miami FC—sort of a rec league team for Totti to pass time while he enjoyed South Beach—there was another club lurking in the shadows, the reformed New York Cosmos, the original retirement squad from the 70s. The club that had once lured Pele and George Best to the astroturf-lined fields of America had reportedly set their sites on our dear Totti. But whether it was in South Beach or South Brooklyn, it was hardly a fitting end for a player of Totti’s caliber.

So, it is with much relief and great joy that we pass along a report that Totti has spurned this opportunity in favor of working for Roma in some sort of administrative capacity. According to the Corriere dello Sport, Totti has been convinced by Eusebio Di Francesco to work alongside him (US)AS Roma 6.0.

It is believed that Totti will initially serve as some sort of liaison between the players and the administration. And while this would seem like a logical way to ease Totti into the next phase of his career, one can’t help but wonder if he bears a grudge towards James Pallotta and company for being forcibly “retired.” So it will be interesting to see how he takes to this role.

We’ll pass along any official word if and when it becomes available, but it looks like Totti is (mercifully) staying in the fold. Totti was here before the Americans and he’ll damn sure be here after them.