Totti could sign new AS Roma deal tomorrow

AS Roma hope captain Francesco Totti will agree to sign a new £21 million pay package to keep him at the club tomorrow.

Totti has talked up the chance of finalising a new deal tomorrow as Roma prepare to play SS Napoli in the Derby of the South in Rome on Sunday.

The Italy star has been linked with AC Milan and Manchester United and he claimed last year that he may quit Roma if the club fail to become title contenders in Italy.

Now the club want to offer Totti a record-breaking contract extension which will make him the highest earner in Italy.

Roma are keen to fight off any interest in their leader with this new package which will run until 2005.

It will take up his best years as well as the Roma captain turns 30 in June 2005 and is being offered the chance to complete 16 years at the club he supported as a boy.

His current contract runs out in June 2002 meaning that he can listen to offers from other clubs from the start of next year with Milan and United already monitoring any signs of a bid by Totti to ditch Roma.

Now the player's agent and Roma president Franco Sensi have complied the new offer and Totti could sign the contract tomorrow.

In July last year this website estimated Totti's transfer value at £30 million after Euro 2000 but his recent form for Roma means a world record fee could be demanded by Roma if they wanted to sell him.

The timing of a new contract for Totti is meant to avoid any speculation surrounding his future which may disturb the club's fans, shareholders and its title challenge.

A super star for AS Roma and symbol of the club, Totti has spent six years in the Roma first team squad after progressing from watching his heroes as a boy on the Curva Sud. An old fashioned play maker behind the strikers Totti had a great influence on events at Euro 2000 with Italy.

He has stayed in much better form than Del Piero and led Roma to an 8 point lead in Serie A at the turn of the year but this has collapsed down to three points with a draw and defeat in their last two matches, Totti's constructive passing and crossing are real meat for the strikers to feed off and he can also get stuck into any midfield battle with courage. He has emerged to carry the burden of Roma fans' desperate desire for success and has handled all the attention and drama very well in that intense football city.

Totti scored two goals at Euro 2000 and ended the campaign playing alongside Del Piero in a formation many thought Zoff would never try. He has spoken of a move away from Roma if the club fail to find title form soon and AC Milan are very keen to sign him. He is the Italian player forwards most want to play alongside and he has helped Gabriel Batistuta top score for the club this season since his move from Fiorentina.

Both players were shown on an Italian television show in a Milan nightclub after Roma's defeat in the city earlier on Sunday night.

Coach Fabio Capello immediately backed his stars and the squad have been paying a good will visit today to a local prison near Rome today to show them how lucky they are to live the life of professional sports stars.