Francesco Totti: AS Roma's Great One-Club Man to Retire

Francesco Totti, the forward who spent his entire career with A.S. Roma, will retire at the end of the season to become a club director.

Roma's sporting director Monchi revealed the news Wednesday at a press conference.

"In terms of Totti, I already knew that there was an agreement with the club that this would be his final year as a player, then he'd start as a director," Monchi said in quotes reported by The Guardian.

"Francesco is Roma, I want to be as close to him as possible. I'd love to learn even 1 percent of the huge amount that he knows."

Totti, 40, spent 24 years with Roma, winning two Serie A titles. He also made 58 appearances for the Italian national team as a skilful, versatile striker and attacking midfielder.

Monchi found success at Sevilla, where he played as a goalkeeper, unearthing prospects from the club's youth system and widening the scouting network. He is expected to perform a similar job at Roma, which he joined in April.

In his final season at Roma as a player, Totti, who has made over 600 appearances for Roma, played once from the start on a one-year contract extension that ends at the culmination of this season.