By Canadian Press

Source: Toronto FC mulls over new transfer offer for Sebastian Giovinco

Jan 30, 2019 | 7:29 PM

Star striker Sebastian Giovinco’s future with Toronto FC was up in the air Wednesday with a source confirming that the MLS club had received an offer for the Italian.

Toronto has already turned down one bid for the Atomic Ant from a Middle East club. But a new offer is in play with the January transfer window about to close.

The former MLS MVP has missed training this week with a club spokesman saying the 32-year-old Italian international had been excused due to “leg tightness.”

But, after being questioned several times, the MLS club eventually acknowledged that Giovinco, who is unhappy at contract negotiations, was not with the team which is training at the University of California, Irvine.

warrant issued

Former Sask. Mountie, convicted of breach of trust, now accused of voyeurism and accessing child porn

16h ago

Movember and the SJHL

Moustaches, mental health and hockey

19h ago

junior hockey

Hometown Ice Wolves player traded to Ontario's Sioux Lookout Bombers

19h ago

A club spokesman said Giovinco had been given permission to stay in another hotel while receiving treatment. The club said he was expected to be back training Thursday, which is what it said earlier in the week about Wednesday’s session.

Now the club is pondering his future.

Giovinco, who is in the last year of his contract, left camp amidst reports of a pending transfer. The team said Monday he had gone to Los Angeles to see a doctor for the sore leg.

TFC president Bill Manning says the team is in daily talks with Giovinco’s agent about a new deal. The Italian was the top earner in MLS last year at US$7.115 million.

Manning says the team has offered him a new deal that would put him in the top six or seven in the league, which last season meant at least $5 million a year.  

“They (the Giovinco camp) don’t like it,” Manning said in an interview Tuesday.

Manning says both sides hope a resolution can be reached sooner than later. Giovinco, who wears his heart on his sleeve, has made it clear he wants the matter resolved. Toronto wants a happy Giovinco but is not going to fling money at him, given his age.

Plus he can sign a pre-contract with another club come July.

Contract negotiations have been “heightened” by external pressures, according to Manning, with the presence of so-called soccer brokers, well-connected promoters who look to strike deals that agents then attempt to consummate with the clubs in question.

In four seasons with Toronto, Giovinco has 68 goals and 52 assists in 114 regular-season games (111 starts). He won MVP honours in his debut 2015 season, when he was directly involved in 65 per cent of Toronto’s 58 goals with 22 goals and 16 assists.

TFC made the playoffs for the first time that year, reached the MLS Cup final in 2016 and won it all in 2017, capturing the MLS championship, Supporters’ Shield and Canadian Championship.

Last season, he had 13 goals and 15 assists in 28 games as Toronto suffered through a down year.

___

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press