Toronto FC star Lorenzo Insigne signs with new big-name agency amid reports of mutual Saudi Arabia interest
Published: July 3, 10:05 a.m. ET
Updated: July 4, 11:49 a.m. ET
Is Lorenzo Insigne looking for a way out of Toronto FC? It’s been one of the hotly debated off-field questions at TFC in 2023 (along with the many questions posed by what’s been happening on the pitch).
We still don’t really have a clear answer.
The noises from Insigne’s camp and from other folks connected to the club have been that the Italian is happy at BMO Field. But of course that’s the party line. We’re not saying that means it’s not true, but we’re also not saying that means it is true, either.
So, what should we make of the news, reported by the sleepless and omnipresent Fabrizio Romano, that Insigne has changed representation, leaving his previous agent Vincenzo Pisacane of Gev Sport & Management and signing with large agency firm CAA Stellar?
CAA Stellar are one of the premier agency firms for soccer stars worldwide. Led by names you may recognize like Jonathan Barnett and David Manasseh, just some of the top-tier plays on their roster include Manchester City and England pair Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips, Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, Manchester United and England left-back Luke Shaw, Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konaté, and many more.
They’re also already pretty active in Major League Soccer, representing mostly young talents. The likes of Real Salt Lake’s Pablo Ruiz, Portland Timbers’ Paraguayan international Cristhian Paredes, LAFC playmaker Mateusz Bogusz, and many more are on CAA Stellar’s books. There are also some names that will be very familiar to TFC fans: Insigne’s Reds teammate Deandre Kerr, former TFC winger Jacob Shaffelburg, and Vancouver Whitecaps star Julian Gressel.
But what does it all mean? It’s difficult to know for sure at this point. As we said, the party line from both Insigne and TFC has been that it’s all chocolate boxes and roses.
After a report emerged in Turkish media in March that Insigne was unhappy with life in Toronto and would toy with the idea of following in his former Napoli teammate Dries Mertens’ footsteps by moving to Galatasaray amid reported interest from the Turkish giants, a TFC front-office figure branded the talk “just silly rumours.” Then-head coach Bob Bradley came out swinging just days later, asserting that “when rumours pop up — and nobody really does much to check sources and stuff like that — that’s just not stuff that we usually think about or talk about.”
At that time, Insigne was sidelined with an early-season injury issue that rumbled on and on for weeks, and there was undoubtedly a great deal of frustration from all corners — for Insigne, for Bradley, and for the fans.
Then, in late May, amid the public airing of dirty laundry between Bradley and Insigne’s compatriot Federico Bernardeschi, Insigne told the media in a rare public address that “I’m very happy with the club, I’ve always been happy with the club.” He added that he was also happy with Bradley and did not argue with his head coach. Whether that part was true or not, well, it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it?
Related read: The time is now for Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi at Toronto FC
Insigne, who had been handed the captain’s armband for the win over D.C. United that day, stressed that his family are also happy in Toronto, despite admitting that “I didn’t expect MLS to be as difficult as it is.”
So, it sounds like all’s well. The only spanner in the works is that you don’t ditch your current agent and sign with one of the world’s leading firms if you’re entirely happy with your situation, do you?
Perhaps it’s simply a case of money. CAA Stellar are well-known for their ability to get their clients a big payday. Just look at, say Kalvin Phillips, who gets paid a whole lot of money for going for the occasional 10-minute stroll on the Etihad pitch. Insigne may want his financial situation addressed, given that he is no longer the highest-paid player in MLS and is thought to be earning roughly half of what he was making in 2022.
Or, maybe it’s something more. We may find some clues over the coming weeks; CAA Stellar have the kind of influence that can lead to leaked lines to media and the fueling of the kind of media frenzy that eventually earns their clients (and the agents themselves) a big payday.
For what it’s worth, another Italian transfer reporter, Nicolò Schira, is now reporting that Insigne does indeed want to leave Toronto, and is in talks with a club in Saudia Arabia to become the next big name to suddenly become very interested in the Middle Eastern soccer landscape. It’s getting to the point where many TFC fans would suggest it could be a match made in heaven; or, at the very least, a welcome case of out of sight, out of mind.
TFC fans and coaching staff have already had to get used to life without Insigne for much of his time in Toronto since he officially arrived last summer, and it’s well-known that the cap space taken up by him and his Italian compatriot Federico Bernardeschi leaves the Reds with little room to manoeuvre financially, even with Insigne’s trimmed salary. You can only go by the evidence in front of your eyes and ears. Despite the public cries of contentment, be honest: would Insigne exiting at some point in the coming weeks really surprise you all that much?
For now, from their own perspective, the TFC brass have more pressing transfer matters to attend to. Bill Manning is working in the background trying to get a deal done for CanMNT and veritable BMO Field fan favourite right-back Richie Laryea to stay on the lakeshore. The president told Luke Wileman on Saturday that TFC will try to get a deal done in the next 72 hours or move on. Since then, more than half of that timespan has elapsed without a public update.
Insigne leaving would neither surprise nor disappoint me, sadly. I miss the days of our DPs being difference-makers. A stranger to the game used to be able to watch and say that certain players were outstanding. Not any more. I know, I know, it’s the players around them.
I miss the days when the Reds had a competent coach who knew how to handle world class players. These 2 players dominated last year only to be managed by a minor leaguer. Bradley was a typical caker. Dumb and stupid full of ego. DP? Trying to be funny?
How have they been doing now that Bradley is gone?
The sooner Insigne is gone the better. There is a reason Napoli let him walk away on a free and then win Serie A without him.
The homework on Insigne was not thorough enough and when you get your DP signing in MLS wrong it sucks. There are many examples (not just at TFC) of teams getting their DP signings wrong in MLS. Move on from Insigne if a transfer comes in.
Remember a few years back where background checks that all the players’ personalities were a key metric before signing, so it was largely a string of solid family dudes, it seemed to work considering how fractious the 2017 locker room may have been. Granted it’s a poor take as most of the older guys are family guys so what do I know.
TFC = Toxic FC
Insigne is a great player, but has he been a good signing to date? No. It’s pretty clear though that the main problem was Bradley, and that the roster is weak. If a cast of better supporting players can be signed, his time here might yet be salvaged.
If I were running TFC though, my transfer policy would be to sign 3 young attacking DPs from Latin America (far cheaper and far more likely to give you more years of prime service, and a transfer fee at the end of their time here) and a young South American or a prime European TAM player, preferably a midfielder from a small club in one of the big five leagues. The rest would be a mix of young Canadians from our academy and reliable MLS guys to bolster the starting 11
If we can move on from Insigne without it handicapping us for his replacement (i.e. eating too much of his ridiculously overblown salary), I’d take it in a heartbeat.
Him and Fede do not fit. They both play better when the other is off the pitch.
If someone wants to take Fede off our hands (again, without retaining any salary) I’d be all for that too.
For the money those two are making there are definitely better options.
Also – after watching what seems like dozens of DPs come through the revolving doors at TFC, it is pretty clear that the 2 best values for impact DPs are a creative, attack-minded MF/Trequartista/2nd striker or a flat-out goal-scoring #9.
Wingers are nice, but they are the icing. You need a good cake before you worry about the frosting. Other positions can be filled with cheaper players.
Both players have too much talent to play with these dogs. First of all Bradely was useless and always was useless. His ego got the better of him in handling talent. Completely intimidated by world class talent and tried to show who was boss with his dumb decisions. Second the players especially at the back are weak. Really weak. When you are used to competence in the head office and players that can tie their shoes playing for TFC must be rotten. The fish stinks from the head. TFC have meatheads in the Executive suite. Dead from the neck up! Give me a break. You guy’s talking like it is great to lose 2 good players. The reality is these 2 good players would do themselves a big favor and get the hell away from these losers.
I know they’re good players. They are our best players. That’s why they are paid 10-20 TIMES what anyone else is.
The idea isn’t to dump them and be done with it. It’s to replace them with other DPs (including a real 3rd DP) that I hope/expect will perform better at that salary level and with that level of expectation/responsibility on their shoulders.
Coming to MLS as a DP means you are responsible for the performance of the team and you will be playing with players that are significantly below your level.
This is a given on any MLS team based on the salary cap structure and the DP rule. Giovinco, for example, was making $7m while playing with guys earning $60k like Ashtone Morgan and Tsubasah Endoh. Base/median salaries have gone up significantly in MLS since then but the principle remains.
I mean. Happy players don’t suddenly change agents, right?
Exactly!
Why does it seems like most of Toronto’s DPs end up leaving almost right after they arrive?
Because we suck at recruitment and we get them by overpaying.
At the end of the day it’s Manning’s fault ….again
I’m with the majority on this. Someone needs to go, whether it’s one or both DP’s, any of the overpaid deadwood or heaven forbid Richie. Cap space needs to be cleared if the necessary additions can be made to change direction. Bob did not finish building the roster and now on top of that several steps back need to be taken. It’s hard to have any confidence that Bill’s the one to do it.
TFC allowing Insigne to leave spells franchise suicide! What big time player who do we replace Lorenzo with? We will again see an empty stadium like we did a few years ago and the season seat holders will jump off this sinking mess never to return, you can bank on this boys! No the play here is to shed some contracts whatever way you can yes Richie too, and bring in a DP Mid to replace Mike another max Tam player at the #9 position and we compete, next year we shed more and slowly replace almost all of Bob Bradleys signings. Only way out for this club I believe.
Insigne isn’t the problem. But to date, he hasn’t been the solution either. Our most expensive player has to be the solution. But before I’d even consider replacing him, I’d need to have a DP lined up, and not only that, first I’d have to offload MAK, Sapong, Laryea etc and sign a real third DP and then, and only then, would we know whether Insigne is what we need. He’s on a bad team which up until a few days ago was managed by a series of inept managers.
I agree with you Ams, but if the DP is another Soltedo ,Salcedo type then sorry I’m not on board I will be the first one to cancel my season seats and wave goodbye to this team.
This retool/rebuild cannot happend this summer. We will need to move our two DP’s (They simply don’t fit in MLS playing with lesser players around them).
We then need to clear the Diomande ($585K), Rosted ($760K) Petretta ($850K), Akinola ($771K), Sapong ($616K), Vazquez ($300K) contracts (I would keep Laryea as I think he is a true gamer who plays his heart out every time he is on the pitch). Essentially anyone making over $300K needs to be evaluated to as to their performance and fit on the team.
This is going to take 4-5 transfer windows and two seasons to fix into a respectable team (not counting this tranfer window).
We also need to move Osorio’s $1.4M into GAM.
Insigne has not been Giovinco.
Bernardeschi was incisive when his heart was still in it but the combination of injuries, second rate folks filling in and Bradley’s incompetence have dragged the whole operation down into the inferno we find ourselves in now. There is no hope for this season. Missing the Giovinco days that’s for sure.
What made Giovinco special was that he was a bench player coming here for more minutes. He wasn’t a star at the end of his prime. Those have never worked (well, Zlatan maybe. Not Defoe). I would give Berna another chance provided we can provide him with some solid players around him.
You are correct about Giovinco as he came here with a chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove something.
As for Fede, he has checked out. Surrounding him with better players will not do anything. He wanted the coach gone and got his wish. And how has his performance been since? I’m not saying his not skilled or anything like that, but coming to MLS as a DP means you will be playing with players that are nowhere as skilled as you are.
We need hungry players who are here to prove something, not just collect a massive paycheck. MLS is mostly a league of younger DP’s when it comes to successful teams.
It will be interesting to see how Messi works out for Miami.
I would not be unhappy to see TFC facilitate Insigne moving on . . . . between being injury prone and not producing he has been mostly a disappointment here. I don’t see that changing. Fede likely needs to find a new home as well. His general behavior of late is not what you want nor would expect from a player of his stature.