Having watched Juventus poach his AS Roma teammate Mirlaem Pjanic for €32 million, Francesco Totti finally lost his cool following the €90 million sale of Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain to the reigning Serie A champions.
With Napoli having finished second to Juventus and Roma third last season, the ability of Juve to load their squad to the competitive detriment of Italy’s top league just doesn’t sit right with Totti.
Entering his 25th professional season with Roma, it’s clear to Totti that things just ain’t the same for one-club gangsters.
"Modern players are a bit like nomads. They are following the money, not their heart. Not many athletes follow their heart,” Totti told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Football has changed a lot, it is all about money now. Players change teams all the time, to make a bit more money elsewhere. It's more about money than about passion.”
Totti went on to label Higuain’s transfer to Juventus “a disaster”, claiming that he “betrayed” Napoli. For Totti, it is “quite normal for a foreign player these days to just leave for another team where they can make more money. It’s a mentality problem. Not all foreigners are like Maradona.”
Higuain’s Argentinean countryman Diego Maradona, who he drew so many comparisons to last season, led Napoli to two Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup while playing with the club for seven seasons.
Totti’s frustration is understandable. He’s essentially football’s version of Keven Garnett had the NBA legend elected to play his entire career in Minnesota, balling out with Ndudi Ebi and Joe Smith while super-teams formed around the rest of the league.
Since winning Serie A in 2000-01, Totti has been the division’s runner-up on eight separate occasions. He’s had to deal with playing in attack alongside Adriano and Mido.
To fault Totti for collecting only five trophies with Roma while accumulating 16 runners-up medals is like faulting Ryan Giggs for never having won anything with Wales.
The guy’s dedication to Rome has bordered on masochism. He’s rejected offers from Real Madrid and Barcelona to stay with the Giallorossi while making a fraction of what he could’ve.
Two of the great one-team men. Photo: @photosofootball | Twitter
Yet there’s something flawed in Totti’s statements. Totti’s boyhood club, Roma, has competed in the Italian top-tier for almost the entirety of its existence — they’re considered one of the Seven Sisters of Italian football.
Following Totti’s logic, Higuain should’ve never left his childhood club of River Plate. Conversely, what about the seven years he spent with Real Madrid (the same amount of time Maradona spent with Napoli) before being offloaded by the club against his wishes?
Higuain is, if anything, probably a bit cynical towards Totti’s viewpoint following his spell at Real. Leaving Napoli after only three years smacks of the betrayal and ingratitude that Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has leveled at Higuain, but if Higuain claims he’s joined Juventus to challenge for a Champions League title in the prime of his career, who can say that he's not following his heart?
Although a €2 million increase in salary doesn’t hurt either.
(H/T: FourFourTwo)
Follow me on Twitter: @ConmanFleming
