TFC NOTEBOOK: Manning says the club has looked at a few Euros besides Insigne | Toronto Sun
Toronto FC president Bill Manning neither poured water on the Lorenzo Insigne-to-TFC rumours on Friday night nor did he fan the flames.
In other words, stayed tuned.
Increasingly, there have been reports out of Europe, as well as from Nashville soccer writer Will Forbes, that the Italian international has been offered a ton of money by Toronto, possibly a record-breaking amount for MLS. Insigne’s contract expires this summer and the Italian playmaker has not come to terms with Napoli on an extension.
According to reports, the Serie A side has offered the 30-year-old only half of what he is demanding.
Insigne, a winger who also can play midfield, has scored 89 goals in 319 appearances for Napoli and has played on the Italian senior national team since 2012. Earlier this year he played for Italy in the UEFA Euro 2020 — the tournament won by the Azzurri. Insigne has scored 10 goals in 53 matches for the senior national team.
His current market value according to Transfermarkt is $52.80 million US.
“There’s a lot of players that we inquire about and some you get some traction on and some you don’t,” Manning told the Toronto Sun . “There’s some players in Europe we’ve looked at and we’ve inquired about. We inquire about a lot of players. January is really when things will heat up. In December the trade window opens, you may see some activity there and I think in January is really when the pieces start to be added and subtracted.”
Manning has to tread carefully when talking about possible moves for big-name players, as he still has three Designated Players under contract — Alejandro Pozuelo, Jozy Altidore and Yeferson Soteldo.
There’s talk that TFC is hoping to be able to move Altidore and/or Soteldo this off-season. TFC has over $10 million tied up with those three players annually.
As for reports that TFC’s all-time leading scorer Sebastian Giovinco wants back, Manning reiterated that the team has twice talked to the Atomic Ant this fall and that the door is always open to Giovinco, who maintains a residence in Toronto. A TFC source told the Sun last month that Giovinco has asked for too much money and that Toronto would not pay him a DP-type salary to return.
“The (MLS) salary cap is the biggest thing,” said Manning. “We can talk about players all day long but if we can’t put them on our roster because of the league (cap), well, that’s the biggest that you have to manage. Again, as January comes and the window opens up I think there’s going to be movement (with new players). We’ll see how things shake out and see if there’s an opportunity there (with Giovinco).”
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