Lorenzo Insigne is the latest European soccer player to make the jump to Major League Soccer after agreeing to a sensational deal with Toronto FC on Saturday.
“Toronto FC announced today that Italian international winger Lorenzo Insigne has signed a pre-contract to join the club on a four-year deal to begin on July 1, 2022. He will be added to the roster as a Designated Player”, an official statement on FC Toronto website confirmed.
It’s a huge signing for the Canadian franchise and for MLS, as Insigne is one of the best players in Italy’s top-flight Serie A..
Last summer, he guided Italy to the UEFA European Championship title scoring twice in the campaign, including a stunner match-winner goal against Belgium in the quarterfinal.
Insigne will join TFC as a free agent, leaving his boyhood club Napoli after 16 years for an astronomical wage.
The deal - which was initially reported by Italian transfer market expert Gianluca di Marzio to be about $15 million after taxes - would have made him the highest-paid soccer player in the history of the MLS by a landslide, considering that the highest paid so far - Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic - earned a whopping $7.2 million per season in 2019.
However, according to The Athletic, the numbers mooted by Italian media were erroneously reported, namely in Canadian currency and before-taxes.
Therefore, Insigne’s real payslip would be in the region of $8 million per year including bonuses, enough to still make him MLS’s highest annual earner ever.
The final figures will be only announced in September, when the MLS Players Association will publish the 2022 salary guide.
The news broke as a surprise not only for the Toronto fanbase but also for SSC Napoli’s supporters, given that Insigne spent almost the entirety of his career with the Partenopei, where is considered a club legend.
In nine and a half seasons with SSC Napoli, the Naples-born winger and captain made 415 appearances and scored 114 goals, in addition to his 53 caps and 10 goals for the Italian national soccer team.
Insigne is the second Italian to join the Canadian franchise after club-legend Sebastian Giovinco, TFC’s all-time record goalscorer with 83 goals in 142 games between the 2015 and 2019 seasons.
But while Giovinco joined the MLS, after two seasons in which he was fielded mostly as a substitute in FC Juventus’ line-up, Insigne is still at the peak of his power and career.
Several soccer commentators believe he could still have a couple more seasons at top-level in all the biggest five European soccer leagues.
And yet, Insigne left Europe to join MLS to have the last ride in professional soccer before saying goodbye.
What might be the motivation behind this decision?
Besides the wage, Insigne might have been intrigued by a project that decided to invest heavily in him, whereas at SSC Napoli he felt unwanted, despite having dedicated all his career to the club.
The number 24 decided to accept TFC’s offer after lengthy negotiation with SSC Napoli over his contract renewal.
Napoli’s president Aurelio De Laurentiis’s last offer was less than $4 million - a notable cut on his current €5.2 million per year.
And despite FC Inter and other European big guns reportedly offering the SSC Napoli star a competitive salary, he eventually declined.
Given his deep-rooted links to the city of Naples, playing for another side in Serie A or in Europe would have been impossible for him.
Last but not least, Insigne is notoriously a family man, and his spell in Canada will allow him to provide his two children with English-speaking schooling and a better education prospect.
However, Insigne’s decision could have negative consequences for his international career, with many commentators fearing that by playing away from Europe he could go under the radar of Italy’s coach Roberto Mancini, with the 2022 Qatar World Cup only months away.
“On a professional level, you have to consider disappearing from the radar. I lost the national team, I lost visibility. If you are willing to give up on these things, it [moving to MLS] is an experience that I recommend to everyone,” said Sebastian Giovinco in his latest interview with Corriere dello Sport.
Insigne has a lot to live up to. Both him and Toronto are taking a chance with this bold move. Only time will tell if the bet was worth it.