- 20 Nov 2024
Roma legend Totti was sold to Chelsea, reveals Cassano
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 19 May 2021 11:39 BST
- 2 min read
Roma agreed a deal to sell club legend Francesco Totti to Chelsea in 2004 but the transfer collapsed when the player refused to move.
This is according to Totti’s former Roma team-mate Antonio Cassano.
Totti enjoyed a stunning 25-year playing career with the Giallorossi, making his debut as a 16-year-old and breaking countless club records before finally retiring at the age of 40.
The 2001 Scudetto winner and 2006 World Cup champion is one of the most famous examples of a one-club man but, according to Cassano, Roma agreed to sell him in the summer of 2004.
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This was one year after Roman Abramovich had purchased Chelsea and was spending vast sums of money in the transfer market.
“I returned to Roma after having played some great matches at Euro 2004, but Totti had made a mistake at that tournament as he had spat at Christian Poulsen during the Denmark game,” Cassano said during a live Twitch stream with Christian Vieri and former Italy defender Daniele Adani.
“So [Roma transfer chief] Franco Baldini sold him to Chelsea. I was the future of Roma.
“But Totti then found out about it. [The transfer fell through] and that’s where the problems begun.”
Totti also famously rejected a transfer to Real Madrid during Florentino Perez’s first tenure in charge.
