With Major League Soccer celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, something historic happens just about once a month. But arguably the most pivotal thing to happen at this key juncture in the still-young league’s history occurred in mid-January, as Toronto FC pulled off a shock move and signed Sebastian Giovinco—permanently—from Italian giant Juventus.
Giovinco’s arrival signified two major developments. One is that the pedigree of the designated player had been raised to a new level and that high profile, star names aren’t the exclusive property of teams in New York and Los Angeles. The other, more important change, is that MLS is officially no longer a retirement center for former greats. By virtue of Giovinco’s age (he’s 28), notoriety (he’s won two league titles with Juventus and played for Italy at the European Championship), and investment value (he’s the highest paid Italian player in any league), he’s the first player to join MLS who could play week in and week out in one of the world’s top leagues.
As MLS continues its growth and aims to reach the same level of competition and international recognition as football hotbeds like the English Premier League, signings like Giovinco will play a huge part.
A similar phenomenon happened nearly four years ago, in Seattle, as the Sounders brought Clint Dempsey back to MLS. During the press conference in which he was unveiled, Dempsey said that the Sounders organization “moved mountains” to sign him. The day after the announcement, one of my colleagues in New England told me at Gillette Stadium told me this was just the beginning; that more U.S. players who could, like Dempsey, could continue playing in Europe would decide to come back to MLS. That is, in fact, what happened. Look no farther than Mix Diskerud, Sacha Kljestan, Jermaine Jones, Michael Parkhurst, Juan Agudelo, and, two of Giovinco’s teammates in Toronto: Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley.
It may take longer for international players of Giovinco’s level to follow Giovinco to MLS, unlike the Americans that followed Dempsey. But, it will happen. Part of the process is seeing how Giovinco adjusts to MLS and where his career goes. For starters, the money is so far more than decent: he gets paid at least $7 million each year. He’s also set himself apart in terms of his play and individual contributions. Ahead of this weekend’s clash at New England, Giovinco is leading his team in assists and is right behind Altidore for most goals scored.
The other piece, however, is upward mobility. European players still largely see MLS as a place to ride into the sunset. This is where Giovinco is truly groundbreaking. His national team coach, Antonio Conte, has not looked past him for international call-ups, using his qualifying matches for European Championships. That’s a major departure from every other high profile designated player, including David Beckham, who had to go on loan to European club teams in order to even have a shot at getting called into the England squad. Consider also that Kaka, David Villa and Thierry Henry—and soon, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard—arrived in MLS at the conclusion of their international careers as well.
In this way, Giovinco is both different and a new breed.
What’s stunning about Giovinco is that he’s always been on the inside looking out. He struggled hard for playing time at Juventus because of the depth of players in front of him. He had the quality to be on the pitch, but not on a consistent basis. He’s come to MLS and elevated his profile and the emergence of the league.
If you want to reach Julian email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
