In 2022, we made a pre-season Toronto FC post.
In 2024, we made a pre-season Toronto FC post.
2026 has arrived, and queue another pre-season Toronto FC post.
The difference between this and those posts is that during those posts, Toronto FC made a major effort to be “hollywood”, so to speak. In the offseason of 2022, four years ago already, in a world completely different to now where Messi didn’t have a World Cup and Ronaldo was tearing up the Premier League, Toronto FC made a seemingly incredible double coup.
The club, whose most famous player up to that point had been either Sebastian Giovinco or Jermaine Defoe (who was, to be fair, a bloody big deal), made a double swoop for Federico Bernadeschi, a Juve star at just 28, the peak of his powers, and most impressively, Lorenzo Insigne. Insigne was a massive star for Napoli and Italy, had made over 430 appearances for Napoli, and was one of Italy’s star players as they won the Euros, just 6 months before Toronto reached an agreement to sign him.
This was Toronto’s grand plan, ending the Pozuelo era and starting their most star-studded era yet. The Pozuelo era had been one of many ups and downs, and, to be fair, some playoff qualification. The era began after Sebastian Giovinco’s departure to Al Hilal ended the incredibly successful Giovinco era, and Pozuelo was brought in. In the first two years, the success was great. In 2019, their first year with Pozuelo, Toronto almost won the league but would fall short in the MLS Cup Final against Seattle – again. The second year, Toronto would finish 2nd in the Eastern Conference but would lose to Nashville in the first round. However, 2021 would be much worse. With star head coach Greg Vanney leaving to LA Galaxy, Chris Armas would step in – and be atrocious. He would win 1 of his 11 games in charge, and end his tenure on a catastrophic 7-1 pummelling to DC United. In would step interim Javier Perez, who steadied the ship a bit, but it wasn’t enough to qualify for the playoffs, a historically low finish for Toronto, who had only missed the playoffs one time in the previous seven seasons.
TFC president Bill Manning was now ready to end the Pozuelo era, wanting a new direction, and perhaps some more Italians. If you aren’t from Toronto, the Italian culture there is incredible. 30% of Canada’s ethnic Italians live in just the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), and the Italian pride on the streets during the Euros (And the World Cups that Italy actually qualifies for) is incredible. It has the world’s second most famous Little Italy, and for the Americans out there, you can think of it as the New York of Canada. This is why an Italian star like Sebastian Giovinco wasn’t just so successful, but also so popular in Toronto, and why the club wanted to respark the flame with Insigne and Bernadeschi.
Another issue of the Pozuelo era solved by the signings was the issue of a co-star. During the Pozuelo era, Toronto tried to sign co-stars for the Spaniard, but signings like Pablo Piatti and Yeferson Soteldo just didn’t work. Signing Bernadeschi secured a co-star for Insigne straight off the bat.
So the 2022 season would be when the switch would happen. However, the club chose to manage this complete identity switch in the worst way imaginable. A normal club, when they make massive squad changes like this, at least has the courtesy to the players who survive the switch to do it between seasons, so the team has a chance to get used to each other, play some preseason matches, and find the chemistry. But nope, this change happened in the middle of the season. At the start of July, Pozuelo was moved to Inter Miami, and Insigne, Bernardeschi, and even a third Italian, left back Domenico Criscito was brought in. Of course this mid-season switch wouldn’t work. Toronto announced their moves for Insigne and Bernardeschi in January 2022, so the whole first half of the season was a write-off waiting for it to actually happen, and then once they came in, it took them two weeks to actually get settled. However, after a 4-0 drubbing of Charlotte, TFC would lose just one of their next eight before missing out on playoff qualification and losing five straight to end the year.
This is how the rest of the Insigne era would generally go. 2023, despite looking promising after the end of 2022, was a headbanger. Toronto couldn’t find a good striker, Franco Ibarra was loaned and immediately told everyone that he didn’t want to be here, Insigne was injured and scored just four league goals all year, and Bernardeschi wasn’t injured but still scored just five. It also featured a godawful horizontal grey striped home kit which would be used for two(!!) seasons and be the worst home kit one of my teams have produced in ages.
However, John Herdman was brought in at the end of the season, giving Toronto fans a reason to be excited for 2024. The man who brought Canada to their first World Cup in 35 years would save the day, right? No. 2024 was better, but not great. Despite number one pick Tyrese Spicer, Birmingham City defender Kevin Long, Deybi Flores, and others coming in, Toronto would still miss the playoffs – albeit by just three points this time.
2025 would be another repeat of 2022. Midway through, it was announced that the contracts of Insigne and Bernardeschi would not be renewed, and the incredibly uneventful and disappointing Insigne era would come to an end after three years of diddly squat. Insigne would play 76 games for the club, score 19 and assist 16, and Bernardeschi would do marginally better, playing 99 times, scoring 26 and assisting 16. While Toronto came out of the deal with their 6th and 10th all time top scorers, doing that in a list with 3 players above 35 goals isn’t very impressive.
So, what next? What is there possibly left for TFC to try? Well, let me introduce you to the next era of Toronto FC. Well, Toronto FC have well and truly humbled themselves after giving the terrible two some of MLS’ biggest contracts. Their transfer strategy has changed, and they’re attempting to bring some MLS experience in. The revolution started in the summer of the 2025 season, in which the first name they brought was Djordje Mihajlovic for 7 million, a player who, while just 25, has already had seven years of MLS experience across Chicago Fire, CF Montreal, and Colorado Rapids. The U.S. international played 10 times for TFC in the second half of the season, scoring four times and assisting twice, not bad at all.
The next name brought in was 26-year old Jose Cifuentes on loan from Rangers, who is best remembered for a three-year spell at LAFC in which he became one of MLS’ best midfielders. The Ecuadorian has done alright at the Canadian club, capping off the 2025 season with an assist in a 4-2 win over Orlando. Perhaps Toronto FC will look to make the move permanent.
Toronto FC have also brought in Jules-Anthony Vilsaint from CF Montreal, and one of the only moves for a non-MLS player, Matheus Pereira, a Portuguese left-back from Santa Clara, not the Matheus Pereira who played for Barcelona, or the one who took West Brom by storm in 20/21.
However, the two moves that, along with Mihajlovic, may define this new Toronto FC era, are moves for a new star defender, and one for a star player. First, the star defender. Toronto have completed a deal to sign two-time MLS defender of the year Walker Zimmerman. A defender who defined Nashville’s defence for years, he brings in some much-needed experience. He says he comes in to ‘chase trophies’ with Toronto, but will have to do so quickly at 32 years of age.
The biggest move, however, could be a record-breaking transfer fee for someone who, while he hasn’t ever played in MLS, is incredibly MLS-coded. Josh Sargent, a 25-year old striker, has had a 18 million dollar bid placed for his services from TFC. Norwich have said they don’t want to let him go, but Sargent is thinking a lot about a move. Sargent’s productivity could be very needed here, as the American has scored about 15 a season in the Championship consistently since Norwich’s relegation in 2022.
We’ll have to see, but if he comes in, Toronto could become a competitive team again. A new era is upon us at Toronto FC, what will it be remembered as? We’ll have to see. With Robin Fraser as head coach, another experienced manager with spells at Colorado and Chivas USA, these guys could finally make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.