Well, sports fans, gather round, because soccer season is back baby! I mean honestly though, if you’re not American and have never lived in America, what other reason is there to watch the MLS than to watch a legend of the sport finally back in action to try to lead his side to glory after a disappointing previous season, now with some more help and a fire in his belly? I’m obviously talking about Lorenzo Insigne and Toronto FC. Who were you thinking of? Anyway, after a 2023 season which seriously tested the loyalties of some fans, this side may have just made some major team-altering decisions. Let’s go through them.
Including loan deals ending, Toronto FC have made 10 additions and 9 departures. We start with the departures first, the first one being Franco Ibarra leaving the club after his loan spell, a move which’ll harmonize the dressing room more, after Ibarra’s comments about not wanting to join Toronto when he was sent there last July. The 22-year old has been sent back to his native Argentina on loan to Rosario Central from Atlanta United after making 8 appearances for Toronto.
The rest of the players to leave the club left on free transfers after their contracts had expired. Michael Bradley, Toronto FC and USA legend, retired after 10 years of service for Toronto, making Jonathan Osorio the last player from the 2017 MLS Cup-winning team remaining.
We saw another player from the 2017 Cup Winners leave, in Victor Vazquez. The Spaniard, who holds the distinct feat of being the only player to ever be on the books of both Toronto FC and Barcelona, rejoined Toronto in 2022 after leaving in 2019 and traveling the world, but left this season and has since joined East Bengal FC in the Indian Super League.
Academy prospect and Toronto-born defender Themi Antonoglou left the Reds for the Canadian Premier League after getting intermittent time as a left back, mainly being Raoul Petretta’s backup. After being Sean Johnson’s backup for 2023 and TFC not renewing his contract, Tomas Romero decided to go to NYCFC and be the backup to Lucas Barraza instead.
The four other players to leave, those being Christian Gutierrez, Aime Mabika, CJ Sapong, and Adama Diomande, still haven’t found new clubs yet.
Now, onto the signings. 4 players returned to Toronto FC after loans in 2023, those being MLS is Back hero Ayo Akinola, Kosi Thompson, Luke Singh, and Jordan Perruzza. While Akinola and Thompson are the two most exciting of the bunch, none of them will be real difference makers for the side. Let’s get into the real signings.
Starting with the draft, and after Toronto’s horrorshow of a season last year, they got themselves the #1 pick, which they used to draft Tyrese Spicer from Lipscomb University. In the same draft, Toronto also acquired Patrick McDonald from Indiana with the 59th pick. The only recent draft class with any big talent has been 2019, featuring Frankie Amaya, Dayne St. Clair, and Tajon Buchanan, but Spicer and McDonald will look to change that trend. I think Spicer can be a really good piece for Toronto, considering their identity crisis in attack last season, perhaps the Trinidadian can be the one to finally make TFC click with Insigne and Bernardeschi.
Other than the draftees, TFC acquired four players from other clubs around the world, starting with the permanent acquisition of Richie Laryea from Nottingham Forest. Laryea isn’t a stranger to Toronto fans, having signed with the club from Orlando City in 2019, leaving for Nottingham Forest in January 2022, rejoining TFC on loan that summer for the end of the 2022 season and the beginning of the 2023 season, then after a promising Vancouver loan for the end of the 2023 season, Laryea elected to rejoin Toronto permanently with Nottingham Forest having Gonzalo Montiel, Ola Aina, and Neco Williams above Laryea in their squad.
Next, TFC have signed Irish defender Kevin Long from Birmingham, who I like as a player. He played for Burnley for 6.5 years, being a solid backup in that time in the Premier League under Sean Dyche, and with Toronto FC’s need of solid defense, Long can provide some of that stability, along with Laryea.
The two others Toronto have signed aren’t game changers, but still ones to look out for. First, they’ve signed Deybi Flores, from Fehervar in the Hungarian league. Flores has traveled around, born in Honduras, and has played in his native country, but also in Canada with Vancouver, Greece, and Hungary. Flores is a decent rotational piece at this level, so he’ll be interesting to watch. Their final signing is a young, unproven defender, Nicksoen Gomis. Signing from Sheffield United, the French defender will probably go straight to the B-Team.
So, why should you be optimistic? With the same guys in the same power places, most of the team the same, Toronto looks in a cycle of death. However, their biggest addition hasn’t come in the playing squad, but rather somewhere else.
Since losing Greg Vanney at the end of the 2020 season, Toronto FC still haven’t found a manager that the fans and players can rally behind and succeed with. They first got Chris Armas, sacked 5 months after getting the job after Toronto lost 7-1 to a DC United side that wasn’t even that good. They then went for Javier Perez until the end of the season, a big fat meh. After that, for the 2022 season, they went for… Bob Bradley. Yep. Needless to say, he did absolutely nothing in his 59 games in charge, only winning 15. He got sacked in June, and the last manager brought in was Terry Dunfield, who won the crown of being somehow worse than Bob Bradley. He was sacked after 12 games, winning only one and losing the other 11.
However, now, Toronto may have actually got someone who can truly be the Greg Vanney replacement. John Herdman’s leading Canada to World Cup qualification in 2021/22 will always live in my mind, and despite Herdman’s, shall we say, boneheaded comments ahead of the Croatia game at the World Cup, but at least he’s passionate. That’s one of my biggest reasons why he’ll be successful, now as the manager of Toronto. He can be a uniting figure in the dressing room, bringing the players together to bring a playoff push to the side.
So, with all that, I think that there is a little bit of reason to be optimistic about a potential playoff push from Toronto FC this season. The best-case scenario for Toronto is a top 10 finish, which I do think is possible. Of course, it will require many of the players still on the team from last season to step up, particularly Insigne and Bernardeschi. However, I think that is possible with a figure such as Herdman in the dugout. I’m Jim James, until next time.