Roma legend Francesco Totti (Photo | AP) 
Football

Francesco Totti refuses to enter Roma training ground while James Pallotta remains club president

Roma legend Francesco Totti retired in May 2017 after making 786 appearances for the club and scoring 307 goals.

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ROMA: Former Italy and Roma legend Francesco Totti said he will not step inside the Roma training ground while James Pallotta remains president of the club.

Totti retired in May 2017 after making 786 appearances for the club and scoring 307 goals, moving into a directorial role at the Stadio Olimpico.

"Look, as long as the situation is like this, I will not set foot in Trigoria," Totti said in an Instagram Live conversation with Luca Toni.

Totti stated that he would only return to the under different ownership and now cannot even bring himself to watch his son Cristian play for the Under-15s.

"Every time I drop Cristian off for training, I stay outside the gate. Sometimes I sit in the car and feel like crying to think that after 30 years, I can't even set foot in there now," Totti said.

"I left and that's that. I still have great friends and they come outside the gate to say hello. Every now and then, my son asks me to come in to watch him play, but I can't do it. That would kill me," he added.

Totti ended his 30-year association with Roma in June last year, hitting out at Pallotta for not sufficiently involving him in decision making.

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