Toronto FC took a Scrabble-like approach to the off-season, changing players like letters in search of better combinations and a more harmonious hand after a dismal 6-18-10 season.
While TFC remains a work in progress under new coach Bob Bradley, there is star quality waiting in the wings in the form of Italian Lorenzo Insigne and a bevy of young Canadian talent already in place.
Experienced Mexican international Carlos Salcedo is expected to partner with incumbent Chris Mavinga at the heart of a Toronto defence that can only go up after conceding a franchise-worst 66 goals.
The first test is Saturday at FC Dallas.
New Dallas coach Nico Estevez is planning for a difficult opponent despite the extensive and unfinished Toronto turnover.
"I expect a good team that has a good coach and that tries to impose their style, tries to press the opponent and tries to control the possession," Estevez said this week.
Bradley, who doubles as the team's sporting director, provides experienced leadership and a vision for the team. With son Michael entering his ninth year at the club, the veteran coach arrived with an excellent handle on the good and bad in Toronto.
While Bob Bradley has preferred to look forward than back, it is clear he saw problems in the existing personnel.
"One of the big challenges when you come into a situation is you try to get an idea of where everybody stands with things,'' he said last month. "In different ways, in the last year or even two years, I think with Toronto playing outside of Canada so often and then the team not doing well last year, I immediately got a sense when I got here that there were just guys in different places, guys that weren't as committed to the club as they might have been earlier.
"Guys that in different moments just hadn't been committed to all the things that you need to do to be part of a winning team. And so we've had to look at all these different possibilities and see how we can try to move forward.''
Michael Bradley offered a similar take in different words this week.
"I think over the last year or two, inside the club, there was a sense that we needed a real refresh," said the Toronto captain. "We had had a really good period for a bunch of years. COVID had hit our team and the Canadian teams in general in a hard way.
"And so as we were getting into last year and certainly to the end of last year, I think there was a real sense and a real feeling amongst everybody in the club that now it was time, time to start to make some real changes."
But the makeover continues. As of Friday, with the signing of homegrown player Kosi Thompson, TFC had just 24 first-team players in camp including the injured Ayo Akinola and 21-year defender Luke Singh, who is expected to go out on loan soon.
"We are still working on some different things," said Bob Bradley. "I still feel good about the depth that we have in every position going into the first game."
Still, questions abound.
Who will be No. 1 in goal with Alex Bono and Quentin Westberg having exchanged the starting role over the last three seasons?
Can repurposed wingers Jacob Shaffelburg and Jahkeele Marshal-Rutty along with CPL addition Kadin Chung hold down the fullback position with Richie Laryea and Brazil's Auro having moved on and Justin Morrow retiring to take up a front-office position? Help reportedly is on the way in the form of 35-year-old Italian Domenico Criscito, currently with Genoa.
Can Spanish playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo regain his 2020 MVP form after a disappointing, injury-plagued season last year that produced just one goal and four assists in 19 games?
With Akinola still working his way back from knee surgery, can Spanish newcomer Jesus Jimenez jump-start the attack?
How much of a boost will playing back before fans at BMO Field represent after the better part of two seasons playing elsewhere or at home with limited fans?
Can 19-year-old Canadian midfielder Ralph Priso step up and build on an impressive season cut short by injury in 2021?
Michael Bradley sees positives ahead of the season opener.
"It's a new excited group," he said. "The starting point is after a really disappointing year last year, the club was able to make a lot of changes and bring in some new voices, fresh blood and find the right ways to refresh the group."
Youth should get a chance to show its stuff under Bob Bradley.
"When they get on the field it's because they've shown day in and day out that they're ready and they've earned it," he said. "I think we've got some talented young players. And as we start the season, some are further along than others -- whether it's through experience or in the moment just physically.
"So there are still some things that are going to need time, but I'm very encouraged by the way all the young guys have taken in ideas and shown really good things throughout pre-season."
Camp has been challenging under Bob Bradley.
"Hard," defender Shane O'Neill, a free agent signing from Seattle, said with a laugh. "It's been hard. It's good. A lot of good stuff.
"A lot of information. A lot of ideas. It's definitely been physically demanding. There's a good intensity about it -- there's a lot of young guys trying to prove themselves, and hone their craft a little bit. It's been a good experience so far ... It's been physically very demanding but also very mentally demanding."
With GM Ali Curtis having departed, TFC truly is under new management. Team president Bill Manning will be hoping Bob Bradley can reverse the slide and restore Toronto to its former glory -- a club that made it to the MLS Cup final in 2016, '17 and '19 -- hoisting the trophy in 2017.
If not, the buck stops at his desk. Everyone else has gone.
TORONTO FC AT A GLANCE
LAST SEASON: TFC finished 26th out of 27 teams with a 6-18-10 record.
GONE: How much time do you have? Seventeen players from last season's first-team roster have moved on including designated players Jozy Altidore (New England) and Yeferson Soteldo (Mexico's Tigres UANL). The revolving door looks to swing again with young defender Luke Singh expected to go out on loan to a CPL team, likely FC Edmonton.
IN: Italian forward Lorenzo Insigne won't arrive until July when his contract with Napoli expires. Spanish forward Jesus Jimenez will be tasked with goal-scoring until Ayo Akinola returns from knee surgery and Insigne arrives to boost the attack. Mexican international centre back Carlos Salcedo is being counted on to steady the defence.
QUESTION: Toronto is blessed with young talent with 13 players aged 24 and under on the first-team roster. Twelve of those are Canadian with five teenagers in 17-year-old Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and 19-year-olds Ralph Priso, Jayden Nelson, Deandre Kerr and Kosi Thompson. Can they blossom in 2022?
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2022.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
