Francesco Totti came close to a Serie A comeback seven years after retiring, according to his new autobiography Oltre, receiving concrete offers first from Genoa and then from Como around two years ago.
Genoa were coached at the time by Alberto Gilardino, Totti's team-mate in Italy's 2006 World Cup win, while Como were led by Cesc Fàbregas.
The idea began almost as a joke. Totti had taken to telling interviewers "I'm ready to come back," a line he intended as banter until people started taking it seriously, he writes: "Genoa's directors asked me directly: 'So, do you want to do this new experience or not?'"
Before deciding, the former Roma number 10 threw himself into training like a professional, adding three gym sessions and two with a physiotherapist each week to his usual Monday five-a-side games, alongside a strict diet.
"Cutting out sweets was really tough," he admits.
The physical signs were encouraging.
"My body was responding well. With some exercises I had to start from zero, but I was holding up and training like a professional," he writes. Gilardino kept messaging him on WhatsApp for an answer. In the end, though, his bond with AS Roma won out.
"My head said I could accept, my heart said no," Totti confesses, explaining that the idea of wearing a shirt other than Roma's giallorossi was impossible to accept.
"A sporting betrayal has no age, whether you're 18 or 48," he concludes.
Totti, who turned 48 during the period the offers were made, would have been six years older than Gilardino and 11 years older than Fàbregas, both of whom he pointed out were paid to tell him what to do.
Oltre, published by Cairo Editore, is Totti's second autobiographical book following Un capitano, written with Paolo Condò. Totti retired in May 2017 after spending his entire 25-year professional career at Roma, the club he captained for 15 years.