TFC eyeing reunion with Atomic Ant
Toronto FC has an ant situation at pre-season camp in Irvine, Calif., but nobody is going to be calling an exterminator.
As first reported by Postmedia, Sebastian Giovinco (The Atomic Ant) has accepted an invitation to train with the team at the Reds’ pre-season camp in southern California. Giovinco, who just turned 35, has expressed a yearning to return to the Reds, though TFC president Bill Manning said the former Italian international has been asking for too much money. That apparently has changed.
“As you know we’ve been talking kind of on and off over the past year and he came to us earlier this week and said, ‘Look, you know I want to play in Toronto and it’s not about the money. It’s about me playing in Toronto and finishing my career the right way,’” Manning told Postmedia. “I had a discussion with (coach) Bob Bradley and Bob’s like, ‘Look, let’s invite him to training and let’s just see how it works.’
And it allows Bob a chance to get to know Sebastian and it allows Sebastian to get a chance to see where he would fit in the team’s plans. So it’s a step forward and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
Giovinco, who maintains a home in the GTA, arrived in California on Wednesday night. TFC posted a picture of the team’s all-time leading scorer working out on Thursday at camp.
Giovinco played four seasons in Toronto before moving on to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia for the 2018-19 season, where he played for three years, scoring 16 goals. He is now a free agent. Giovinco recorded 68 goals and 52 assists across 114 regular-season games with Toronto after playing for Serie A powerhouse Juventus. He scored 83 in total for the Reds and helped TFC capture numerous trophies, including winning the Domestic Treble in 2017 — the MLS Cup, Supporters’ Shield and Canadian Championship.
According to MLS, a return by Giovinco to the league would need to go through the MLS Allocation Process since his outgoing transfer fee was US$500,000 or more. Toronto currently holds the No. 3 spot behind Inter Miami CF and FC Cincinnati, respectively. The Allocation Process determines which club has first priority to acquire a player on the Allocation Ranking List.
The Reds are making major off-season changes after finishing second-last in the MLS Eastern Conference regular season standings with 28 points in 34 games. TFC has already made one huge splash, signing Napoli captain and Italian international Lorenzo Insigne to a four-year deal worth around $45 million. Insigne will join TFC on July 1. The hiring of Bradley was also an off-season move.
TFC still has the maximum three Designated Players on the roster, though two of them — forward Jozy Altidore and winger Yeferson Soteldo — are not at camp. Soteldo is with the Venezuelan national team at World Cup qualifying training. Reportedly a deal has been worked out — but not finalized — to trade Soteldo to Tigres UANL of Liga MX for that club’s star centre back Carlos Salcedo. TFC is trying to move both Altidore and Soteldo to clear up two DP spots, one of which will be taken up by Insigne.
According to Italian soccer site Tuttomercatoweb, the Reds are close to agreeing a transfer for Genoa captain Domenico Criscito.
Like Insigne, Criscito would also start playing for TFC on July 1.