Lorenzo Insigne signs for Toronto FC | Sports

the Toronto Football Club, who finished last season as the penultimate ranked in the MLS Eastern Conference, the American league, confirmed this Saturday what thousands of Napoli fans already took for granted after an avalanche of unconfirmed information. Lorenzo Insigne, 30, the captain of Napoli and the most creative player in the Italian team which won the last European Championship, has signed a contract which will join the Canadian club for four seasons from July 1. President Bill Manning announced in a press release: “This is a historic day”.

Naples is going through a crisis. Few football environments have been set up with such precision on the border where secular and sacred feelings are diluted. Maradona’s successor to the place occupied by the most adored idols of Italy’s most mythologized fans, the small Insigne (1.63m) is about to end his relationship with the tragic point that feeds the story. of his community. Events came to a head last Tuesday when Sky Sports cameras caught him meeting a Toronto delegation at the St. Regis Hotel in central Rome. The meeting with Andrea D’Amico, emissary of the North American club, paved the way for the outcome of the operation. This Friday, Insigne signed the pre-contractual document, a gateway to an agreement that will only be final when the transfer is made.

Insigne turns 31 in June. The date will approximately coincide with the end of his contract with Napoli, the subject of a long and fruitless negotiation. Insigne’s representative told the media that his client wanted to continue but that club owner Aurelio de Laurentiis had only offered him a downward renewal for the amount of three million euros net per season, i.e. less than 50% of his current salary, which in recent years has placed him as the highest paid Italian footballer in Serie A. An offense, according to the agent, that Toronto has lent itself to rectify from afar. According to The Gazzetta dello Sport The soccer player will earn around 15 million euros net for each of the four seasons he plays for the Canadian club, taking into account salary and advertising contracts.

Insigne’s salary alone will be $12.5 million per year, net according to The Gazzetta dello Sport, and gross according to various agents who work with MLS. If net, the amount would double the base salary David Beckham received from the LA Galaxy when he signed in 2007. “Lorenzo is a world-class striker at the peak of his career,” Manning said. “He plays with joy and passion and our fans will fall in love to see him in our team.”

Toronto needs reinforcements. It has come from winning just six out of 34 games last year, and its managers found it convenient to replicate the experience of 2015, when they signed Sebastian Giovinco from Juventus. Giovinco’s move to MLS was a success. What is more enigmatic is the result of a transplant like that of Insigne, whose energy was charged in a volcanic society, at the cultural antipodes of icy Toronto.

Over 400 matches

Insigne has played over 400 games for Napoli since establishing themselves as the most promising youth team in 2010. After a series of loan spells at Cavese, Foggia and Pescara, he has become the club’s flagship which he led to the conquest of two Italian Cups. With the national team, he scored 10 goals in 53 games and his contribution to the last European Championship was crucial as a midfielder, false winger or false nine. His transfer will force the coach, Roberto Mancini, to seriously calibrate the restructuring of the team which, if it qualifies, will go to the World Cup in Qatar next November.

Insigne’s presence in Rome to negotiate his departure last Tuesday lit up the partenopean social networks. Just two days after Napoli’s trip to Turin, where Juventus were measured, the maneuver was presented as an act of contempt of the club. Only the footballer’s impeccable performance at the former Delle Alpi relieved the pressure. Napoli drew 1-1 and remain third in Serie A, five points behind Milan and six behind leaders Inter.

The question will be decided this Sunday, when the stands of Diego Maradona come forward regarding the match between Napoli and Sampdoria from 4:30 p.m.

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