{"id":1241637,"date":"2022-01-11T16:42:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T16:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1241637"},"modified":"2022-01-11T16:42:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T16:42:25","slug":"lorenzo-insigne-toronto-fc-scouting-method","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/lorenzo-insigne-toronto-fc-scouting-method\/","title":{"rendered":"The unconventional scouting method Toronto FC used to sign Lorenzo Insigne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lorenzo Insigne has agreed to join Toronto FC when his contract at Napoli expires at the end of the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Canadian club completed the signing of Insigne earlier this month, agreeing a pre-contract with the Italy international that will see him move to the MLS in July on a free transfer, with reports suggesting he will be on a bumper \u00a311m-a-year wage package \u2014 the highest ever in the competition\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

A shrewd albeit costly move from Bob Bradley’s side, who have captured a player very much in the prime stages of his career and who is now set to end an emotional 16-year spell at his boyhood club, whom he currently captains and has done so officially since Marek Hamsik departed in 2019.<\/p>\n\n

It doesn\u2019t take a state-of-the-art scouting network to establish the quality of Insigne, which may explain Toronto FC president Bill Manning\u2019s decision to take matters into his own hands, channeling his inner \u2018Football Manager\u2019 to land the Euro 2020 winner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following a disappointing 2021 MLS campaign which saw the club finish second-last in the Eastern Conference, Manning sought to improve the Reds\u2019 fortunes by, well, spending a fortune.<\/p>\n

Insigne\u2019s contract is alleged to be over double that of Zlatan Ibrahimovic\u2019s salary when he was turning out for LA Galaxy — a \u2018small\u2019 price to pay when you\u2019re getting a player on a free transfer.<\/p>\n

And that is a scenario that has transpired after Manning happened to stumble across well-known football website Transfermarkt<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked up the Italian national team on what players were coming out of contract,\u201d Manning said via The Toronto Sun<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Lorenzo Insigne was one of a few players that was coming out of contract. And I started writing down players that I thought were world class, that I thought would have commercial value in this market.<\/p>\n