NEWS UPDATE: He gets into a fight with the acting head coach and leaves…
After a furious altercation with interim head coach Terry Dunfield, Lorenzo Insigne left midway through a Toronto FC training session on Thursday. According to numerous sources who spoke to The Athletic, Insigne told Dunfield he would decide whether or not to participate in TFC’s game this coming weekend against the Columbus Crew.
Dunfield’s choice to divide the star designated player’s reps in a drill with 20-year-old forward Deandre Kerr was the source of the conflict.
According to several people with knowledge of the events, Insigne was overheard criticising TFC and how he is treated differently than other MLS players as he was leaving the training field. Before Lionel Messi joined the team, Insigne held the record for the highest salary in the league. Insigne and Dunfield’s disagreement persisted in the room.
According to a representative for Toronto FC, Insigne returned to training on Friday, will be visiting Columbus, and will be available for selection on Saturday.
As previously reported by The Athletic on May 26, Insigne was among the players from TFC who convened via conference call with the aim of dismissing Bob Bradley, the team’s head coach at the time. On June 26, TFC finally dismissed Bradley. The piece also described the club’s fragmented culture.
Since the coaching change, Toronto has lost seven straight games, including six in which it failed to score, and has yet to earn a point. The squad hasn’t won any of its previous 12 games overall; its most recent victory came against D.C. United on May 27. With nine games left, TFC is currently 13 points outside the playoff line, sitting in 14th place in the East.
Since the coaching change, Toronto has lost seven straight games, including six in which it failed to score, and has yet to earn a point. The squad hasn’t won any of its previous 12 games overall; its most recent victory came against D.C. United on May 27. With nine games left, TFC is currently 13 points outside the playoff line, sitting in 14th place in the East.
Insigne made his Toronto debut halfway through the 2022 campaign, to much acclaim. Bill Manning, the club president, incorporated him into a five-year plan for TFC’s redevelopment, which was submitted to the MLSE board in 2021. Signed in January 2022, Insigne made $14 million in revenue the previous year.
However, both on and off the pitch, his time in Toronto has been a letdown thus far. The Athletic was informed by several sources that he had left training before on Thursday.
According to several sources, Dunfield was given the temporary position in order to provide some positivity to a locker room that was in need of it and to avoid treating the team’s best players, Federico Bernardeschi and Insigne, too heavily like Bradley did.
This season, Insigne has only made 15 of 25 appearances for TFC, contributing just three goals and four assists. Among players with at least 1,000 minutes played this season, his 0.24 goals per 90 minutes in the Major League Soccer ranks him 57th.
