Lorenzo Insigne and Domenico Criscito are both set to join Toronto at the end of this season.
The 30-year-old Italian winger is set to leave Napoli after failing to reach an agreement regarding a contract extension with president Aurelio De Laurentiis, whose highest contract offer was still below his current €5m net per season salary.
As reported by Alfredo Pedulla, Insigne will sign a four-year deal with Toronto with an option for a fifth year, earning €10m net per season plus add-ons. The 35-year-old Criscito will also join the Canadian side, although he wants to want until June as he’s keen to help Genoa avoid suffering relegation.
Toronto’s entourage will arrive in Italy next week on either January 4 or 5 to iron out the details, meaning Insigne will still finish this Serie A season with Napoli. The 30-year-old Italian winger has scored five goals and provided six assists in 18 appearances this season for the Partenopei.
#Insigne e #Criscito al #Toronto entrambi da giugno. Dirigenti canadesi in #Italia tra il 4 e il 5. Insigne 4 anni più 1 di opzione, chiariamo: i 10 milioni più bonus sono netti. Criscito prima vuole aiutare il #Genoa nella corsa salvezza
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) December 31, 2021
Toronto will find out that Insigne is no Giovinco. Giovonco could dribble entire teams, score from distance with both feet and was a threat to score any kind of free kick.
I’m 100 percent certain Insigne won’t even be half as successful.
I agree completely. He’s not the same type of player Giovinco is. He’s a winger for one. Giovinco also went out every match to score a hat trick. But he will still make the team around him much better.
All Lorenzo wanted was to be courted like a big name player, paid heaps of cash and to feel important. I kind of feel sad for him that only a team in the MLS was willing to do that. He is a worthy player. He shoukd have went to the PL or Spain to at least try to win something domestically in his career.
Insigne would have preferred to stay in Naples more than anyplace else. ADL knew this and was low-balling him. As a native, he loves the city. I don’t think the comparisons with Giovinco are fair to him. He’s a starter at the club and the national team.
I was hoping e would have stayed with Napoli. He could perhaps come to Toronto in a few years. Anyway, the deal seems to be done now, and I wish him great success,
Well said Gio! Thats 100% accurate !
I’m surprised that no other big european club have made an offer.
I’m sure he would have accepted with slight increase on his current contract
Honestly I am starting to see a trend here. More and more players are leaving for free to however will pay them the most. Donnaruma, Hakan, next Kessie and now Insigne. The difference being the 1st 2 went to clubs still in Europe and that shows a certain desire to still at least win trophys and get paid for it, but this so called move to Toronto for Insigne is motivated by nothing more than money. Its sad. The foreign players in Serie A going to different l
Leagues /Teams I can sort of understand but losing talent like Donnaruma and Insigne especially to inferior leagues I find hard to take. RIP SERIE A.
@Stefano. Insigne is going to MLS to retire. Giovinco moved there in his prime. Insigne is captain and undisputed starter for his club. Giovinco played 7 games for Juventus in his final season there, 15 the season before that. Insigne is an undisputed starter for Italy and has twice as many caps as Giovinco, and he also is a Euro champion. I think it’s a little premature to judge what he will or won’t do for Toronto. I’ll also add that MLS continues to get tougher.
Why Lorenzo? Why?
I do not care that he is leaving. Good luck in Canada. There is plenty of young talent to fill his shoes. Its the lack of loyalty, and the entitlement that is sad to see. Napoli was loyal to him. The city was loyal to him. The Nazionale have been loyal to him. This trend of leaving on a free so you can get paid more, and your agent, says a lot about the greed of these players. Ciao Lorenzo.
Wow.
That is utter madness on Lorenzo’s part.
How can you give up European football with your peak years to come?
I’ve read the comparisons to Giovinco but come on he never really hit any heights in SerieA.
Insigne on a free transfer, surely should be backing himself to find a big team in CL, if he’s moving for money I’d have to question his drive and belief?
Not his biggest fan but genuinely shocked that he couldn’t find a place in Pl or another top SerieA team.
In my book he’d also be sacrificing his position in the national team dropping out of European club football.
This will be a sad day for Napoli, but I don’t fault Insigne; I fault ADL. Honestly, sometimes I don’t understand what goes on in his head. He sometimes reminds me of Al Davis, the late owner of the Oakland Raiders, a formerly great American NFL football team. At one time its star player was Marcus Allen, and Davis became jealous of him, so had him put on the bench for an entire season to try to skew his stats downwards and keep him out of the Hall of Fame – unsuccessfully, as it turns out. For ADL to want to cut Insigne’s salary when he’s finally coming into his own is ridiculous. And for those who think Insigne should eat the loss of income to stay in Serie A, just compare ten million a year to three-and-a-half million a year.
Sad for Napoli, and a complete puzzle as to why ADL wants it to happen.
Good for Insigne! ADL is a miser and thought he could get his way with the player due to his love for Naples … careers are short if someone appreciates you the way Toronto does then he should go and take the money, its a new experience Napoli is a dead horse and his time is officially up there
To all who say he is not loyal and it is all about the money. I ask do you not have the same right in the industry you work in. I have left employers after being there a long time to pursue more lucrative opportunities. It is every persons right. Loyalty is important to your employer, for sure. But would you take a cut in pay out of loyalty? He has his family to think about. This is a good opportunity for him. Nothing but the best Lorenzo. Ciao!
@ Dazziano Colucci If Ramirez and Oscar can leave Chelsea at the peak of their career to go to China, and other young good players as well, would you say RIP Premiership? people should try make sense with their comment at times. Donaruma will gladly play in Turkey if they show him the money, that’s what football is about now and for nothing to do with league.
@ Villaruso, Milan offered Gigio 8M and he still left bcos he want 12M, Chala left for 5M against Milan’s 4M, and Kessie is currently refusing 6M holding on for 8 . All they guys are not as important to Milan as Insigne is it to Napoli , and what De Laurentis can offered him is 3.5? and you seriously talking about loyalty here ? I don’t think so
@ralph: Totally agree. Absurd to question Insigne’s loyalty. This ADL offer is an insult. I’d also add that Insigne means so much to Napoli but I just don’t see him featuring at a top club in England or Spain, as some speculate. He could be a bench player for slightly more than he is making now and maybe win a club trophy outside of Italy, or he can rake it in Canada as a featured player. Biggest issue is that he sacrifices a spot on the National team in 2024, if not 2022, but he has his Euro trophy already. I hope he’s just trying to get some leverage over ADL for a better offer, but if not all the best to him.
Don’t think may of you would give up on an additional 7 million a year . It Is what it is people can say what they want but he will be set with that kind of money
Insigne will be 31 for the WC and 2022-23 campaign. He can net $50M *minimum* over 5 years in Toronto OR take a pay cut for less than half that amount in Napoli. Nobody will come close to that deal & he’d be crazy to turn it down.
@Gman1980
The answer is **$25M**
No CL club will come close to that or even a 5 year contract. His place in the national team is guaranteed for next year’s WC (if Italy qualify) after which he will retire.
Good for Insigne. ADL was banking on a Hometown Discount and Insigne has called his bluff.
Why is that only football fans believe that players should be loyal? We are seeing it with Lukaku now? Why should they?
Is it expected in other sports?
Good comments by Gab Marcotti this week on a podcast I heard on Toronto radio where he featured.
Said that if Italy qualify to the World Cup, he still sees Insigne on the team because he will have had a month off and can mentally and physically prepare. Yeah, I can see it.
Glad that Mimmo Criscito will be joining him. As Captain of Genoa, obviously he can’t leave in January.
Judging by the MLS Standings, Toronto FC have a lot of work to do. Not sure these 2 will be enough.
He will have little to no pressure. Good for him.
Also, after the World Cup (if we qualify), he was likely not going to he called for Euro 2024 Qualifiers. Mancini or the next in charge would have looked elsewhere.
He’ll be in Serie A in March and as such will be there for the Playoffs. World Cup? Say more than 50/50.
After the World Cup, he was done in Azzurro anyways.
Seriously, who here can honestly say that towards the end of their career they’d turn down that kind of money, versus a team that wants to pay you less than what you think you deserve, right or wrong, after you’ve committed your career to that team, the prime of your career, no less.
He’s almost 31. He doesn’t owe them anything.
As for Italy call up, Giovinco vs. Insigne is an apples to oranges comparison.