Francesco Totti - Is this the end for the Italian genius?

Old footballers never die, they only fade away. Or, if their name is Francesco Totti, they keep on playing. In ten days time, 38-year-old Totti (he will be 39 at the end of September) is due to line up for his 24th season of Serie A football with AS Roma, the only professional club of his career and the one that he joined at the age of 12 in 1989.

Even then, Totti looked useful. So much so that Roma youth team officials dropped by the Totti family home to convince his parents to sign him up for Roma rather than their dreaded, cross-town rivals, Lazio, to whom his then club, Lodigiani, had originally promised him. For a while, the Totti transfer became something of a diplomatic incident between the three clubs, notwithstanding the fact that we are talking about a 12-year-old.

Twenty-six years later, we are entitled to wonder if the final curtain is about to come down on a trully remarkable career. For the first time since he became an established first-team player, Totti goes into this season in the role of reserve. As he comes to the end of his career, Totti has often played as a “false” centre-forward in the Rudi Garcia coached Roma. That is, he is not a centre forward at all but plays behind front men with pace such as Ivory Coast striker Gervinho, or in the past guys like the Montenegrin Mirko Vucinic or the Argentine Pablo Osvaldo.

For long, critics have argued that Roma need a real central striker. Not for nothing, when Roma won their only league title of the last quarter century, coached by Fabio Capello in the 2000-01 season, they had in the team just about the best central striker of the Italian post-war era, Argentine Gabriel Batistuta.

So, given that Roma have this summer re-inforced their squad with three strikers, Bosnian Edin Dzeko (ex-Manchester City), Egyptian Mohamed Salah (ex-Chelsea) and Spaniard Iago Falque (ex-Tottenham), it would seem only logical to conclude that the Totti genius will be used sparingly, perhaps in the final half hour of a game where his experience and his wonderful technique can still make a contribution.

In recent seasons, perhaps thanks to an intense, personalised training and dietary programme, Totti has looked remarkably sharp, playing fantastic football that seemed to belie his age. Last season, though, there were signs that age has finally caught up with him. After one important Serie A game last season, former AC Milan great, Croat Zvonimir Boban, nowadays a panellist for Sky Italia TV, argued that the time had come for Roma to stop relying on his leadership but rather find a new role for him. In a season where Roma start off in the Champions League, that role could be that of the final half hour super-sub, rather in the manner of 36-year-old Brazilian Jose Altafini at Juventus back in the 1973-74 season.

Curiously, for much of his career, Totti has never really convinced English football fans who often perceived him to be a “smart tricks” merchant who went missing when the going got tough. Perhaps his performance and his goal in last season’s Champions League 1-1 group game draw away to Manchester City may have partially changed that view.

What is certain is that Totti remains a living legend for his adoring Roma fans who can never get enough of his fervent passion for the club. He remains a living legend, too, for some esteemed fellow professionals.

After Roma had beaten Real Madrid 3-0 on penalties in a Melbourne friendly last month, a Welsh fellow called Gareth Bale was found lurking outside the Roma dressing room waiting to collect Totti’s autograph. Likewise, as the teams left the pitch following a 3-0 Barcelona win against Roma last week, an Argentine by the name of Lionel Messi stopped Totti and asked him to pose for a picture alongside him. The legend lives on…