Japan's Tokyo Verdy has called off its bid to sign Italian star Francesco Totti after his wife turned her nose up at the move, local media said yesterday.

"Ultimately he was unable to get his family's blessing," Verdy president Hideaki Hanyu told Japan's Nikkan Sports newspaper, claiming Totti's celebrity wife Ilary Blasi had been a major factor in the collapse of its ambitious pursuit of the 40-year-old World Cup winner.

"I'm afraid we have no choice but to pull out." Totti, who recently made a tearful farewell to AS Roma after 25 years at his boyhood club, has been linked with Major League Soccer, with Miami FC — coached by Totti's close friend Alessandro Nesta — among those keen on his signature.

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