Francesco Totti claims he'd rather kill himself than leave Roma

Francesco Totti has claimed he would rather kill himself than leave AS Roma and he now 'suffers on the outside' of the club to whom he gave his entire career.

The 44-year-old is known as the King of Rome, having burst into the team as a local teenager, and went on to become their greatest ever player and servant. After hanging up his boots in 2017, he made the switch upstairs to become a member of the board of directors, but left that role in 2019 amid tensions between himself and the previous owners.

In an interview with Christian Vieri on Bobo TV, Totti admitted he would never have left the club if it weren't imperative to his future, stating 'he'd rather kill himself' than abandon the team and city which worships him.

"I would rather kill myself than leave Roma," he said.

"I imagined myself in Rome forever. Then they put me between a rock and a hard place, forcing me to make a decision that I would never have made. It could have given the club good things, now I suffer on the outside."

The Roma legend also described himself as 'the last of the Mohicans', as the club wanted to rid themselves of their living legends, refusing to offer new contracts to Totti or fellow Roman Daniele De Rossi, as well as shipping out adopted sons Radja Nainggolan and Kevin Strootman.

"I could have done better than other leaders, but I was the last of the Mohicans."

Totti has not given up on his dreams of working with I Giallorossi in some capacity and he shot a timely reminder to the new owners, declaring that the club is in the hands of foreigners and they require someone 'who knows everything about Roma' on the inside.

"I was never involved in the decisions, now the club is still in the hands of foreigners, the coach and the sporting director are foreigners...it would be useful to have someone in the club who knows everything about Roma. It's what is missing at the moment."