Toronto’s Little Italy, located on a small strip of College Street, is best known for its classic pizzerias, trattorias, and gelato shops. It brings a taste of Bel Paese (the beautiful country) to the Great White North, but since 2015, it seems to be bringing more than atmosphere and cuisine. After a few big-name signings have donned the red of Toronto FC, this cultural connection might serve as a recruiting tool, or at the very least, the inspiration behind TFC’s sporting decisions over the last decade. And guess what? It works. At least, it did.
Throughout their time in MLS, the Reds have been a fixture of our league. But, while their history and accomplishments date further back, it’s their transfer movement from 2015 onward that intrigues me the most. In a league that’s been built on marquee signings, every club takes a different approach. Whether you sign a retiring superstar or two — looking at you, 2015 NYCFC — or you opt for a younger superstar (hello Riqui Puig), there’s more than one way to make a splash with your DPs. In Toronto, those splashes have had a distinctly Italian flavor.
The Atomic Ant
In 2015, TFC secured the services of a 5’3” Italian national team attacker from one of the biggest clubs in the Italian Serie A. Sebastian Giovinco’s transfer from Juventus to Toronto made headlines and gave a fanbase hope, but not even Ted Lasso could have imagined just how positively this deal would play out.
The Atomic Ant, as Giovinco is affectionately known, changed both the club and league forever. Across four full seasons, he led the Reds with 108 goal involvements in 114 games, an astounding rate of 0.95 goal involvements per game. His 22 goals and 13 assists in 2015 saw him win the Landon Donovan MVP award in his first season in the league, and his free-kick wizardry probably made more than a few people revisit their high school physics textbooks.
He played a pivotal role in Toronto’s 2017 treble triumph, as they became the only MLS club to win three domestic trophies in a single season (MLS Cup, Supporters’ Shield, and Canadian Championship). They appeared in three MLS Cup finals from 2016 to 2019, three-peated the Canadian Championship from 2016 to 2018, and got every last drop out of an aging Michael Bradley. If that doesn’t impress you, I reckon nothing will.
Giovinco was, without a doubt, one of the league’s most notable and effective signings of all time. He played at or near MVP caliber in each of the four seasons he played in MLS, and his sheer will to win shone through in both his availability and his efforts. His least productive season saw him rack up a measly 20 goal contributions in 28 games. What a disappointment, am I right?
Seeing Double
In 2022, a new era began in Toronto, as TFC secured the services of a 5’4” Italian national team attacker from one of the biggest clubs in the Italian Serie A. No, Giovinco didn’t just grow an inch and re-sign; this time, it was the arrival of Lorenzo Insigne from Napoli that rocked the league in a different way. With a bigger name came even bigger hype, but despite Insigne bringing a teammate with him from Italy (hello Juventus’ Federico Bernardeschi), the stars simply haven’t aligned for this second Italian experiment.
When the second coming of Sebastian Giovinco finally arrived in the summer of 2022, fans were treated to a brilliant half-season of action from Insigne and Bernardeschi. The former scored six goals and provided two assists, while the latter notched eight and two. The season ended unceremoniously, but with a hint of optimism that a full year with these new attacking weapons could lead to another Renaissance in Toronto’s soccer history.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. In fact, a full season in 2023 only saw things get worse, as TFC floundered and flailed their way to a Wooden Spoon finish. Worse still, Bernardeschi had fewer goal involvements (7) in 31 games than he’d had in 13 the year prior (10), and Insigne missed much of the season, producing just four goals and four assists in his limited appearances. Last season was the best yet, with Bernardeschi earning an All-Star nod and contributing eight goals and eight assists, but it still wasn’t enough to make the playoffs.
As Toronto’s Italian pair enters their fourth season in Ontario’s capital, comparisons to their predecessor are looking increasingly bleak. Using the kindest metrics I can, the two have produced a combined 66 goal contributions in as few as 80 matches, a rate of almost 0.83 contributions per game, and that’s with some generous concessions in games played. Neither one has even equaled Giovinco’s worst season in Toronto, and the team performance has reflected the flat numbers of the players who were supposed to be its stars.
Insigne simply hasn’t played enough matches to warrant being the second-highest paid player in the league ($15,400,000 guaranteed in 2024), and Bernardeschi, while fit and effective, hasn’t moved the needle enough on his own to warrant his place as the fifth-highest earner on that same list ($6,295,381 guaranteed in 2024). I would never suggest that these two players aren’t talented; there’s a reason they’ve played for Italy and were handed these big contracts. However, from a pure results perspective, something simply isn’t working in Toronto, and 2025 might be the last chance to salvage this disappointing era.
In a league with such unique roster rules, where you put your money really counts. A good investment can very well lead to trophies and a golden era in your club’s history, while a bad one can lead to some forgettable times. Every club takes its own strategy, and when it hits, it hits. Got a lot of Italian influence in your city? Sign some promising Italian players and hope for the best! Got a lot of Nordic influence? Maybe check out some Scandinavian talents. The demographic angle is nothing new in MLS, and while it has worked for Toronto in the past, the ever-changing landscape of this league demands that clubs update their transfer strategy to keep up.
