Toronto FC’s 2022 Offseason Goals

Goal Number 4: Clear The Bad Money

This needs to be a section in and of itself because this will require quite a bit of work. There is some very not good money on the books for Toronto FC.

Starting with the worst contract on the books, Omar Gonzalez was being paid over a million dollars a season. That’s incredibly bad. Like, so bad I can’t understand how they signed that contract in the first place. He had an option at the end of last year, which the team didn’t exercise (he has now signed in New England), so that was an easy out from that contract for Toronto FC.

The next terrible contract is Erickson Gallardo. This was a bet that never paid off, to say the least. Not even making the regular 18 for TFC, he never really had the chance to show what he could do and when he did it was far from a success, so you can add him as another front office masterpiece. Making $300,000 per season was even less ideal as he eats up crucial salary space for a team that needs to make the most of their money spent. He was out of a contract at years end, so another simple way for the team to clear money and give him a chance to try to resurrect his career.

The final bad cap hit, and the only one whose future still remains pretty murky, is Jozy Altidore He’s been a phenomenal player for Toronto FC, but injuries and age have very quickly destroyed his career. He simply is not the player that he once was or DP quality anymore. While he’s been a great member of the team, and he did show a flash of what he used to be in TFC’s second last match of the season, his massive salary and taking up a DP slot leave TFC with little choice but to consider moving on.

2022 is the last year of his contract, so maybe the club decide to wait it out if they aren’t in a rush to get a DP slot, but his time as a designated player in Toronto is quickly running out. There have been tons of rumours and reports from a ton of different reporters about what’s going to happen with him, so it’s tough to decipher what is accurate and what isn’t. The one thing that is certain is that he likely won’t be back as a DP next season, which will give TFC numerous options to their future roster construction.

Goal 5: Sign Some Actual Players (Preferably some Centrebacks/Defenders)

This goal has been initially addressed with TFC’s signing of former Seattle Sounder Shane O’Neill, but that still leaves them with only 3 natural centrebacks in Luke Singh, O’Neil, and Chris Mavinga, as well as a hole at backup Left-Back, Striker (with Ayo Akinola not yet signed and Jozy’s future uncertain), and much-needed quality bench depth. The current lack of depth is not something you can get away with for a season. Add on the fact that there are only three other defenders under contract in Kemar Lawrence, Auro Jr., and Richie Laryea, and TFC are pretty desperate for some injury insurance.

The depth issue was only compounded with Julian Dunn leaving for Norway, removing a potential internal option for TFC. One option could have been to try to re-sign. Eriq Zavaleta on a cheap contract, but based on his Instagram post I feel like it’s kind of unlikely. Raheem Edwards has been rumoured, and he’s played full-back in the past, so that could be a good depth option, but there still need to be more signings because you can’t get away with 6 total defenders in a season.

Addressing some more players that TFC has been linked to, Domenico Criscito has been linked, and he’d be a great signing as a player who can play both LB or CB, but he’s 35 years old, so that’s not really a long term option. He is, however, a friend of Lorenzo Insigne, who’s being HEAVILY linked to a TFC move. With all of the public links and reported potential salary, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t happen, but that will require a DP spot. That’s an entirely different topic/article, and I won’t dive into it here, but that would be a transformative signing. I’ll do another article very soon diving into those potential players, but for now, we can only consider them rumours.

The bottom line with this goal is that this team NEEDS more quality players, specifically defenders, and there’s lots of work to do. If the team can add Criscito and Edwards that backline will look much stronger, but even then I don’t think it full cuts the mustard. So, there need to be additions and they need to happen sooner rather than later.

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