I’m gonna just let myself be a fan here and say holy shit this is unbelievable.
I’m gonna just let myself be a fan here and say holy shit this is unbelievable.
Last edited by MightyDM; 12-28-2021 at 12:10 PM.
insigne is the biggest signing in toronto sports history.
Twellman is very connected to MLS FO, if he's making a claim as big as that it's based on something. Is it accurate? Not sure, I don't see MLS/MLSEs incentive to under report the salary, but he isn't pulling it out of his arse and throwing it into the ether for the lols like some random punter who has a blog somewhere - there is at least some basis for the belief
And also, yes, this by far and emphatically the biggest signing in TFC history and maybe only behind Beckham and Ibra for biggest in MLS history (And those two were older, so arguably less effective on field performers at the time of signing - certainly for Beckham, just the prestige factor was huge) IF we pull it off. You cannot compare a 50 cap Italian international, key squad member in a Euro win 6 months ago and 319 Serie A appearances to a player with under half the Serie A appearances, half the caps for Italy when signed and nothing as high profile as a Euro win behind him. Salary could be whatever it is, we've never signed anyone operating at this level
Last edited by JoesphNdo; 12-28-2021 at 12:41 PM.
I struggle to think of a player that kept a higher standard of play immediately prior to coming to MLS.
Maybe Zlatan? Although his game was almost tailor made to crush MLS defences who can rarely handle that much size and skill.
We have to round out our team. With a above average supporting cast we can really run over the opposition.
No reason to cut corners on that other DP slot. We need to give Insigne a high end number 9 to play with.
"Toronto FC" is trending on Twitter in Italy. Something I never thought I would say.
Grain of salt needed on this... But goodbye parity.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/TransfersMLS/status/1475881560947707905?s=20
Silly season in full effect now...what's the Italian for bloody big deal!?
Rollins said in November TFC had discussions with him, but there wasn't a pathway to a deal. Granted, Rollins's recent track record isn't great.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/24thminute/status/1458168137212387328
Either way, let's dream big I'm here for it. Mbappe is also available on a free transfer in June...
Yeah the arc of the reporting of Soteldo's salary is worth remembering.
I agree that it's probably more like $7M. But still, say it's a $30M commitment for this player? at this age? with this level of name recognition?.. I mean, holy crap. Did Leiweke come back and nobody noticed?
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Fuck parity tbh - let the money flow for the DP spots. Doesn't cost us any more cap space than the next DP.
Any other rumours on the CB front, then? our depth chart's still looking bare there.
Manning woke up mid-Armas and thought "If I can't get us back to where we were, I'm fucked," probably. So he's copying the blueprint that worked the last time seat sales were slumping.
To me, it's insane to give a 30-year-old winger $28M or whatever it works out to be. It's asking for Jozy part II. We have one or two great years with him -- and it's not my money, so hey, why not -- and then he spends the last two as an on-again off-again player, because the demands of travel in MLS, the playing surfaces and the rough defending all make it very hard to perform and train without injury.
Plus, Insigne is not a consistent goal scoring machine. He's a massively broadly talented skill player, yes, but he has alternated almost annually between being Napoli's scorer and their playmaker.
While I highly doubt we end up with Soteldo Version 2, and it's more likely we get Seba quality, he's already at the age where he'll be starting to lose speed, and I remember how quickly Giovinco's play declined after year two.
I welcome the talent, obviously, but it doesn't seem like a brilliant signing to me. It seems like we're spending the kind of money that could guarantee us a 20-goal-per-season man on a player who won't do that, in all likelihood.
As for the probability of it all, these same outlets and reporters have been linking us with player in Italy constantly since before the end of the season, and none have gone beyond rumours. I don't expect them to be right this time, either, except that no one else is talking publicly about wanting him as much (or paying him as much).
Inter Milan have inquired about him as well; if Inter thinks it's crazy money, I wonder why TFC think it isn't. And yes, I get that two years of sellouts could result. But $28M is a lot of fucking money. We could build a decent entire roster with that.
We can argue about Insigne 2022 vs Gio 2015. That is a debate.
But can we not invent some kind of status for Insigne with Azzurri fans that does not exist?
Insigne, Immobile, all the forwards especially, are really identified with a generation of abject failure in WC qualifying and early exits.
I don't know how much the Euro win changes that, some for sure, but since then they coughed it up in WC qualifying. Again.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Did you see some of the comments under the Italian stories? Fans saying exactly that. "He's no Baggio, he's no Nesta" etc. Because of his age and recent injury they consider him a marginal to even make the team.
Napoli are offering him half what he makes because Chucky Lozano has taken his spot and is performing for a fraction of the money. He just had an eleven-goal season and cost them more than $40M, so he's going to be starting there anyway. They lose nothing out of this but shedding some salary, basically.
It just isn't a debate, at all.
Seba was, from a National perspective, a really really promising youngster who never quite made it to the level he was expected to make it too and remained a bit part player at club and country level. He'll mostly be remembered as a 'what could have been'
Insigne is a key Serie A player and near automatic starter for Napoli and a automatic squad member for Italy who played a decent role in them winning the euros 6 months ago. Again, we're talking over twice the caps and over twice the Serie A appearances
This may be no Nesta, no Del Pierro etc, but he got to levels above where Seba ever got to in the game. I think by my math Insigne has more goals for Napoli than Seba had appearances for Juve.
Last edited by JoesphNdo; 12-28-2021 at 01:28 PM.
^^ re the Gio vs Insigne debate, I get that, that is all correct… but I know for a fact that Italian soccer fans who don’t support Naples (which is most of them) don’t see that team as on a truly elite level from a fan interest POV (notwithstanding recent CL success etc).
I also think that the value of Azzurri players to Italian fans has gone down since 2015. Because of the WC problems. There will be a fair number of them for whom the goal against Belgium last summer in the quarters won’t offset the 15 times he didn’t produce over the last 10 years.
Last edited by ensco; 12-28-2021 at 01:34 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
if the money is true.yes a overpayment.but who cares.hopefully a soldout stadium.kit sales more adverts,entertainment and hopefully winning futbol
I am a bit torn. On the one hand, right on. One of the top 100 players in the world, yay!
On the other, if this doesn’t work, it's Altidore all over again (as jloome points out) and the question is, what else could or should we have spent $30M on?
My biggest fear is that Insigne, like Soteldo, is a system player, and won’t have Dries Mertens here to absorb the attention of opposing defenders as the primary option. We have to have an elite striker if we do this.
But if we get him, for sure, he becomes probably the best player to wear the jersey. I mean, wow.
Last edited by ensco; 12-28-2021 at 01:44 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Calci...59700679.shtml
According to the gazzetta is being offered 5 years at 10 million euro a season.
This is a serious signing. Italian media think it is pretty much a done deal.