Bob Bradley's first signing as sporting director and head coach of Toronto FC is one of the biggest and priciest in MLS history.
Lorenzo Insigne, the longtime Napoli star and club captain and Italian Euro 2020 winner, has agreed to join Toronto as the centerpiece of the club's attempt to return to glory in MLS, and he'll arrive in the summer, following the conclusion of Napoli's season. Insigne is signed on a four-year deal starting July 1, 2022, with a reported salary of $15 million per year, which would easily make him MLS's highest annual earner ever. Zlatan Ibrahimović had previously carried that distinction with a $7.2 million annual salary during his last season with the LA Galaxy.
Toronto is no stranger to paying big for stars, though, with Sebastian Giovinco's $7.1 million compensation in 2017 and 2018 pacing a group of big earners in recent years that has included Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore, Alejandro Pozuelo and Jermain Defoe. TFC will hope that Insigne can make the same impact his countryman Giovinco did when he won MLS MVP in 2015 and helped the club reach the MLS Cup final in 2016, win it all in 2017 and come within a penalty shootout of winning the Concacaf Champions League in 2018.
