The tiny frame of Lorenzo Insigne hunches forward on a metal bench, eyes fixed on the practice field stretching before him. It’s a crisp morning at Toronto FC’s training facility, where dew still clings to the grass. Just months ago, this scene would have been unimaginable – the Italian star, Toronto’s highest-paid player at $15 million annually, relegated to watching from the sidelines.
“There were dark moments,” Insigne tells me in halting English, occasionally switching to Italian when emotions run deeper than his vocabulary allows. “When you love football like I do, not being able to help your teammates feels like someone has stolen something from you.”
The rise, fall, and resurrection of Lorenzo Insigne in Toronto exemplifies both the promise and perils of bringing European soccer royalty to North America. After 11 seasons with Napoli, where he achieved club legend status with 122 goals and the adoration of an entire city, Insigne shocked the football world by signing with Toronto FC in January 2022. It represented one of Major League Soccer’s most ambitious transfers ever – a Euro 2020 champion still in his prime choosing Canada over Europe’s elite leagues.
I first interviewed Insigne shortly after his arrival in Toronto, when expectations soared as high as his salary. Back then, his eyes sparkled with confidence beneath his signature slicked-back hair. “I come here not for vacation,” he insisted. “I come to make history.”
Two years later, that dream had nearly collapsed. After a frustrating injury-plagued 2023 season where Toronto finished second-last in the Eastern Conference, new head coach John Herdman made the stunning decision to bench Insigne for tactical reasons during early 2024 matches. The once-untouchable star found himself frozen out – a $15 million spectator.
Toronto-based soccer analyst James McLeod wasn’t surprised by the tensions. “North American soccer requires different physical attributes – more running, more direct play – than what Insigne experienced in Serie A,” McLeod explains. “When you combine that with the pressure of being the highest-paid player in league history, it created an almost impossible situation.”
Data from the MLS Players Association confirms Insigne’s unprecedented compensation package dwarfs even the $12 million salary of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi. That financial burden created outsized expectations that Toronto’s leadership eventually determined weren’t being met.
According to sources within the club who requested anonymity, Herdman’s decision to bench Insigne wasn’t just about on-field performance. The coach sought to establish a culture where no player – regardless of salary or reputation – was guaranteed playing time. The gamble could have backfired spectacularly. Instead, it may have saved both Insigne’s MLS career and Toronto’s season.
“Sometimes you need this shock,” Insigne says, gesturing emphatically with his hands in classic Italian fashion. “I go home, I think about my situation. I look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Lorenzo, you are better than this.'”
What followed has been remarkable. Since returning to the starting lineup in April, Insigne has recorded eight assists and six goals in twelve matches. More importantly, Toronto has climbed from near the bottom of the standings into playoff contention.
During a recent match against Philadelphia Union, I witnessed the transformation firsthand. Insigne tracked back defensively – something critics claimed he wouldn’t do – before launching a counterattack that ended with him curling a perfect shot into the top corner. The BMO Field crowd erupted, and Insigne sprinted to Herdman, embracing the coach who had once benched him.
Federico Bernardeschi, Insigne’s Toronto teammate and fellow Italian, believes the benching paradoxically strengthened their relationship with Canadian fans. “In Europe, the stars are untouchable,” he says. “Here, supporters respect when you show humility and fight for your place. Lorenzo has won their hearts not with his name but with his response to adversity.”
Dr. Kacy Wilson, sports psychologist at the University of Toronto, notes that Insigne’s journey reflects broader challenges faced by elite athletes changing environments. “When athletes build their identity around being the best, any decline in status can trigger profound psychological distress,” Wilson explains. “What’s impressive about Insigne’s case is how he channeled that distress into motivation rather than resentment.”
Insigne’s revival coincides with Toronto FC’s broader cultural reset. The club that won the MLS Cup in 2017 had fallen into disarray, cycling through coaches and expensive signings without recapturing former glory. Herdman, who previously led Canada’s men’s national team to their first World Cup in 36 years, has implemented a high-pressing system that initially seemed ill-suited to Insigne’s strengths.
“I need to adapt myself,” Insigne acknowledges. “In Napoli, we play different. Here, the coach asks me to press, to run more. At first, I think maybe I cannot do this at my age. Now I show myself I can.”
Toronto FC president Bill Manning, who orchestrated Insigne’s signing, admits the relationship required recalibration. “When you bring someone of Lorenzo’s caliber, there’s a natural tendency to build everything around them,” Manning says. “What we’ve learned is that even the greatest players need a strong foundation around them. We had to fix the foundation first.”
On a personal level, Insigne’s family has finally settled into Toronto life after initial challenges. His wife and children now speak English comfortably, and they’ve established connections within the city’s substantial Italian-Canadian community.
As practice ends, Insigne stays behind for extra shooting drills – something teammates say has become routine since his return from exile. The afternoon sun catches a new tattoo on his forearm: the Toronto skyline alongside Napoli’s iconic Mount Vesuvius.
“Both cities now in my heart, in my skin,” he says, touching the ink. “I come here to write new story. Maybe the beginning was not beautiful, but in football, like in life, is not how you start. Is how you finish.”
For Lorenzo Insigne and Toronto FC, that ending remains unwritten. But what once looked like an expensive mistake has transformed into a compelling redemption story – proof that sometimes, even the biggest stars need to get frozen out before they can truly shine.
