Is Lorenzo Insigne’s move to Toronto FC a big money aberration or the beginning of a new era for MLS?

From the moment rumors began to circulate linking Lorenzo Insigne to MLS, there has been one question on everyone’s mind: what does this all mean?

That’s the way things work in MLS, where every great signing has to mean something. It is a league that, in many ways, is still defining itself and constantly evaluating and re-evaluating its place in world football.

Now, rumors are no longer rumors. Insigne’s move to Toronto was confirmed on Saturday and he will officially join the club this summer following the expiration of his contract with Napoli, leaving his childhood club for Canada at the age of 30. Insigne will come to MLS in one of the most costly and ambitious moves in league history.

But even as the superstar’s move from Napoli to Toronto FC is finalized, that big initial question still lingers.

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The move itself is unheard of in MLS history. This is an international player at the peak of his powers and playing at the highest level in Europe.

It’s not about David Beckham, David Villa, Wayne Rooney or Zlatan Ibrahimovic coming to MLS when they started their career losing streak. This is not Sebastian Giovinco coming to MLS after failing to make a real breakthrough at the elite level. And this is not Miguel Almirón coming to North America in the years leading up to his own big break.

Insigne is a player who could realistically play for almost any club in Europe and still give many good years to a team struggling to win the Champions League. He is a legitimate international from Italy who started at Euro 2020 last summer. He ranked seventh in Serie A with 19 goals last season, extremely impressive loot considering the fact that he plays wide.

This is a level of player that MLS has never seen, and somehow Toronto FC pulled it off.

The elephant in the room is the money involved, which is absolutely amazing. Insigne’s salary will be approximately $ 13 million per year, making him the highest paid player in MLS history. That salary is astronomical even by world soccer standards, and it’s more than several MLS teams pay for their entire squads.

Insigne, then, has 13 million reasons for settling in Canada, but anonymity and the comfort of playing in MLS may also have been a factor in his decision to make the switch. He might also simply appreciate the fact that he is clearly wanted, that a club is willing to invest in him as much as a player and as a person.

And there is also the allure of taking on a challenge away from Napoli, the only club he has ever called home.

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Toronto FC’s motive, however, is a little less obvious. Insigne is not a figure similar to Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s not even a Rooney or a Villa, a household name that will capture the imagination and eyes of the casual fan. Despite all its success, Insigne is still far from being a big star when it comes to name recognition outside of Italy.

Instead, it all comes down to what has propelled the Toronto FC club forward over the past decade. This movement is about one thing: ambition.

TFC is the club that brought Giovinco to MLS in his prime, giving the league one of the most electrifying stars in its short history. This is the club that signed Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, two stars of the US men’s team, to big deals. This is also the club that gave us the signing of Jermain Defoe’s “Bloody Big Deal”, a transfer that did not work at the time but that did show the limits that a team that had the imagination and desire to do then could cross.

That’s what the arrival of Insigne means for Toronto, a club that has been defined by its desire to push boundaries. This is the club’s opportunity to show that it can attract top talent, assert itself among the top clubs in North America, and ultimately as a player in the global soccer market.

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It also presents an opportunity for Toronto to return to the top of MLS on the field. Very often things are put into a lens off the field when it comes to these big moves. “How many shirts will they sell?” “What are the season ticket numbers?” “Are you tuning in more fans?”

But believe it or not, some teams really want to win, and Toronto has always proven to be one of those clubs. His roster is still taking shape with new head coach Bob Bradley, but with Insigne joining a team that should also boast of former MLS MVP candidate Alejandro Pozuelo, it’s easy to imagine that Toronto’s attack is in between. the most dynamic in the league.

There are still question marks, mainly around the future of Altidore and Yeferson Soteldo, but TFC is certainly capable of solving it all in a way that will push them back to the top of the MLS table.

So what does this all mean? Insigne’s move could turn out to be an aberration, a simple case of a player being courted by big money and big promises to try something different.

This could be an isolated case, just one man making a decision that is best for himself and his family, rather than starting a wave of European talent crossing the Atlantic for years to come.

But you don’t realize that without being bold. You don’t change perceptions without a bit of ambition. To really change things, sometimes you have to take a chance and see what happens.

Both Toronto FC and Insigne are taking a chance on this move. As for what that will mean five, 10 or 15 years from now: well, that’s anyone’s guess.