TFC working behind the scenes to ease Insigne's transition to MLS

TORONTO — Lorenzo Insigne has already said goodbye to his legion of Napoli fans in his home finale. And Sunday, Napoli wraps up its Serie A season away to Spezia with a third-place finish guaranteed in the standings.

Toronto FC wait and watches. But the MLS club has been busy, preparing for Insigne's arrival.

Toronto president Bill Manning says the Italian star forward, who is married with two sons, is expected in late June after international duty with Italy and a short break.

Toronto, which already had a sterling reputation for looking after its players off the field, hired Paola de Cristofaro as manager of player care in March to help ease the Insigne family's transition to North America. De Cristofaro, an Italian-Canadian who spent 10 years in Rome and speaks fluent Italian, has been in touch with the family regularly.

"Their schools are already picked out. His residence is already picked out," said Manning. "There's been a lot of work done there. Getting English lessons, that's already being worked on right now."

"There's been a lot of communication," he added.

Toronto has a lot invested in the Italian star forward, who turns 31 on June 4. Insigne will enter MLS as its highest-paid player, overtaking Chicago's Xherdan Shaqiri who currently tops the 2022 MLS salary list at US$8.153 million.

Insigne's first game is expected to be July 9, two days after the MLS secondary transfer window opens, at home against the San Jose Earthquakes. TFC will have played 18 of its 34 regular-season games by then.

Manning says Insigne has been preparing — watching all of Toronto's games.

"He wants to really get a feel for how the team's playing," he said. "I know Bob (head coach and sporting director Bob Bradley) and Mike (assistant