The Sebastian Giovinco Transfer

It is official. The Sebastian Giovinco era of Toronto FC is over.

The club has confirmed the transfer of Giovinco to Saudi Arabian side, Al-Hilal FC. The news came as a complete shock to me yesterday evening, and I am still trying to process the news. I will write a separate appreciation post for Giovinco, but for this post, I want to talk about the actual transfer and the wider implications on Toronto FC and the supporters.

Although this transfer may be a deep sting to a significant chunk of the Toronto FC fan base, I do not necessarily disagree with the decision for the club to sell Giovinco. Giovinco is 32 years old, and common sense will tell you that as you get older, your influence and production on the pitch will decrease. It would have been difficult for the club to continue to pay him at his current salary, so TFC decided to try to recoup some transfer funds before his contract ran out at the end of the 2019 season. It sounded like a good, pragmatic decision for the club to take. However, I am not sure whether this was a good decision taken by TFC until, we find out if, they will be able to replace Giovinco's production on the pitch. I have heard rumors of certain players that Toronto FC are trying to sign, but as of right now, I do not see anyone on that current Toronto FC roster that can even come close to filling the shoes of Giovinco. I do not envy the position that new Toronto FC General Manager Ali Curtis is in right now, but time is not on his side for him to try to bring in a player or players to attempt to mitigate the offensive gaps in this Toronto FC squad.

Although in the squad sense, the selling of Giovinco may be a good decision, in an overall business sense for the club and the supporters, the selling of Giovinco is a bad decision. From the time Giovinco signed with Toronto FC to now, there was so much interest and buzz around the city of Toronto and beyond. Having Sebastian Giovinco around was good for business. If you go to BMO Field for a match, there are more than a few people sporting Giovinco jerseys. Many supporters and casual Toronto FC fans alike were coming in droves to BMO Field to watch him play. Giovinco is an incredibly valuable asset to the club, and he is more than just a player. When you rid yourself of an asset and a popular figure like Giovinco, people begin to question the club and MLSE's motives long-term. I have noticed that the dominant narrative among social media is that many Toronto FC fans are angry and have decided not to go to matches anymore, despite the naivety of that opinion based on one player. I believe there will be a large dip in Toronto FC's revenues, even if Toronto FC finds a suitable replacement for Giovinco, because of Giovinco's popularity, the gloomy outlook of Toronto FC's upcoming season, and yet another rise in TFC ticket prices for 2019.

I would also like to address Giovinco's Instagram post. In particular, this passage:

This is a damning accusation of Toronto FC and MLSE's management. There is a lot of 'he said, he said' between Giovinco and Toronto FC management, and I do find fault in both camps regarding this whole situation. Giovinco's words toward TFC/MLSE management is a bit vague and petty, but I find his words about management focusing on things other than the desire to win to be interesting. It has been a long-standing opinion among many former Toronto FC players and current Toronto FC fans that MLSE cares more about profiting from sports fans than building winning sports teams, and Giovinco's post only fans those flames. Are MLSE going to focus more on the Maple Leafs and the Raptors going forward because those teams bring in more money for the organization? In addition, Giovinco's mentioning of a lack of transparency is interesting as well, as the Toronto FC media were issuing different stories about Giovinco's absence from Toronto FC training camp days before his transfer. Were Toronto FC representatives feeding different statements to the Toronto FC media for public release?

Giovinco also mentions that he would have accepted less to stay at Toronto FC, but his words come off as a contradiction to his action of deciding to move to Al-Hilal FC. Giovinco is most certainly going to receive a larger salary at Al-Hilal than he received at Toronto FC, and although I have no issue with a player trying to obtain a higher salary, I just wish that Giovinco were more consistent between his words and his actions.

Anyways, this is obviously a developing situation. I just wanted to post all my immediate thoughts about this transfer in one article. I will write about Sebastian Giovinco's contributions to the club in the next post.