Insigne, Bernardeschi to make Toronto FC debuts vs. Charlotte FC

It appears that Toronto FC fans may get their first look at the club’s new Italian stars this weekend.

Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi will feature in Saturday’s match at BMO Field vs. Charlotte FC, head coach and sporting director Bob Bradley confirmed to media Friday at the BMO Training Ground.

"Both are excited, and everybody is also excited to get them going," said Bradley. "A couple of days of training, we'll have to figure out exactly what it means in terms of minutes. But both of them are ready to go."

The two players trained with the team Friday afternoon.

Insigne originally signed a pre-contract in January to join Toronto this summer and was eligible to make his debut on July 9 vs. the San Jose Earthquakes, however, a calf injury sustained while on international duty with Italy kept him sidelined.

He’s been training on his own but has slowly been integrated into full-team training and will be ready for some minutes on Saturday.

The 31-year-old former Napoli captain is said to be the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer, reportedly making close to $15 million per season – almost twice as much as the next highest paid player in the league (Xherdan Shaqiri - $8.1 million).

Bernardeschi, meanwhile, joined Toronto on a free transfer from Juventus last Friday and was formally introduced in a press conference at Real Sports Restaurant Monday afternoon following his first training session with the club.

"The main thing you try to do as you bring players into a team, especially talented guys like that, is make sure that everybody gets a sense as to things that they bring to the team," said Bradley, when asked what he's expecting from his new Italian duo. "The spots that they go to look for the ball, some of their ideas now when they get the ball. But both have qualities to make passes, move forward, create opportunities. Both give us good options with set pieces, so really good players and really good guys."

It’s unclear if either player will start and how many minutes they’ll see. With neither having played a match in over a month – and a Canadian Championship Final three days later across the country in Vancouver – the expectation is that their minutes will be managed. Bradley said that 'there was no way' Insigne, coming off a calf injury, would be ready to play the full 90 minutes.

Toronto will welcome their injection into the squad. The team is in 13th in the Eastern Conference and has gone winless the past five games. They remain eight points out of a playoff spot heading into the weekend with 13 matches left to play.

Charlotte, meanwhile, are in eighth in the East – one point out of the seventh-and-final postseason spot. They dropped a heartbreaker last time out, blowing a two-goal lead in the second half to ultimately lose 3-2 vs. Inter Miami CF. Surprisingly, the expansion side did, however, defeat Chelsea FC midweek in an exhibition match, downing the Premier League side in penalties.

Charlotte are just 1-8-2 away from home this season, while the Reds are 5-5-1 at BMO Field this year.

On the injury front for Toronto, Quentin Westberg did not train with the team this week, while Chris Mavinga appears to be on his way back after suffering a lower-body injury in last week’s loss to the Chicago Fire. Noble Okello also did some work on his own, though still remains a ways away.

Predicted Starting XI

(4-3-3) Bono; Thompson, O’Neill, Criscito, Petrasso; Osorio, Bradley, Kaye; Nelson, Jiménez, Kerr

Injury Reports

Toronto FC: Noble Okello (OUT), Chris Mavinga (OUT), Quentin Westberg (OUT)

Charlotte FC: Vinicius Mello (OUT), Adam Armour (OUT)

Betting Lines

Toronto FC (+116) | Charlotte FC (+215) | Draw (+255)