'If Messi comes to Roma, I'll greet him at the airport with the no. 10 shirt'

The fact that Francesco Totti loves Lionel Messi is no secret. They have been photgraphed together on numerous occasions and swapped shirts several times, as well as praising each other in the media often.

The former Roma captain, who is now director of sport at the club, took the opportunity on their preseason tour of the US to answer fan questions and paid Messi another huge compliment when speaking about whether the Italain club should retire the no.10 shirt with which he played for almost all his career.

"I have always said that I don't want my shirt to be retired. At the end of the day it's the club's decision, but if they ask my opinion I'll say no", the Italian began, and went on to explain that "for young players, they always dream of playing in the no. 10 shirt for Roma. I don't want to be the one to take that dream away from them." he said.

Totti then went on to mention Messi as the conversation went on. "It's obvious that it's not easy to become Roma's number 10, but who knows what will happen in the future, someone like Messi could come along and do more in the shirt than I did" he explained.

"Well, if Messi were to come to Roma, he'd obviously take the shirt. Actually, I'd probably greet him at the airport with the shirt myself" Totti went on. This came only a few hours after the club's president joked that he'd only accept Barcelona's apology for taking Malcom away at the last minute if they gave Roma Messi.