Catenaccio N/A

MLSE Tim Leweke and GM Tim Bezbatchenko were determined to bring a star player to Toronto, by all means necessary. The Toronto Star's Cathal Kelly's piece of January 24 reveals Toronto FC's brass  intricate courtship of players the likes of Rolando Bianchi of Bologna FC, Alberto Gilardino of Genoa (as reported here earlier), Juventus' Fabio Quagliarella, Spurs' Jermain Defoe, and Roma's Michael Bradley. The backstage was more than a transactional exchange, rather it involved sipping wine made in a player's family-owned vineyard, negotiations with Gilardino and Quagliarella's agent while at a Toronto Maple Leafs game, flowers from Drake, and bumping into LeBron James.  The piece reveals that Toronto FC's first choice was Jermain Defoe, with Alberto Gilardino as their "backpocket".  Bradley's was an unplanned advent that happened almost over night: an opportunity seized by a Machiavellian Bezbatchenko. Sit down,...

As I reported on www.ItalianFootballDaily.com Toronto FC's purs uit of Alberto Gilardino has come to a close with a simple "thank you, but no thank you". According to transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio, "the Reds" pursued the 2006 World Cup champion for a  transfer to the North American city in the  summer 2014 since October. Gilardino, however, prefers options closer to home. In this perspective, Sunderland's recent interest in him and Borriello, and TFC securing the services of Germaine Defoe have indefinitely shut the door on the Italian striker's route to North America.  Gilardino has 9 goals and 1 assist in 19 appearances (all competitions) for Genoa this season.  

According to Sky Italy's soccer transfer market guru Gianluca Di Marzio,  Toronto FC has formalized their offer for Gilardino, which he will sign in short order . Di Marzio broke the news on his twitter account in Italian, and his collaborator David Amoyal spread the news in English: This sets up a prospective an Italian striker duel with Marco Di Vaio, who works his craft for TFC's rival, the Montreal Impact.  The formal announcement is expected after Gilardino inks the deal. As stated in previous posts, Gilardino would join TFC after June 2014.

News coming from Sky Italy's Gianluca Di Marzio today has Alberto Gilardino dusting off Toronto FC's 3-year offer of $12M (that's $4M/year), who seems to have lifted his doubts about the Reds. Di Marzio broke the news in English through his right-hand-man David Amoyal : On November 6, we revealed that TFC was in the hunt for a designated player in the Red's attack , and Gilardino was their number 1 target.  However, things cooled off just a week later, with the same Di Marzio informing his followers that Gilardino was not fully convinced of Toronto as a destination. Today's update confirmed that Gilardino is very likely to come to Toronto, but only in the summer 2014  (not at season's start in March) as he wants to finish his season with Genoa, and hopefully, feature in next summer's World Cup. At Catenaccio, we continue to hold that the 2006 World champion's his main concern is to maintain a fertile environment for productivity in his ...