At the time of their arrival, it felt hard to overstate just how wild it was that Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Insigne would continue their careers at Toronto FC. It was a club that was used to taking big swings, of course, including on their countryman Sebastian Giovinco, but there was something about Insigne and Bernardeschi's arrival that just felt different
Here was Insigne, a prince at Napoli fresh off winning the Euros with Italy. And Bernardeschi, an in-his-prime forward who, like Giovinco before him, made the leap straight from Juventus to MLS.
And now, less than two years later, it feels hard to overstate just how much of a disaster this has been. That's the only way to describe it all: a complete and utter disaster.
It all came to a head recently when Insigne, who has been a total non-factor on the field, was seen arguing with and cursing at one of his own supporters. A bad look, for sure, and one that is symbolic of just how wrong this has all gone.
Heading into the final weeks of the MLS season, Toronto FC find themselves dead last in MLS. One coach, Bob Bradley, an MLS legend, already paid with his job. A new one, ex-Canada boss John Herdman, has been brought in to rebuild a broken culture that has been totally centered around the two big-money Italian stars.
But what happened? How did Toronto FC spend a record-breaking amount of money on two players and get it this wrong? And how did Insigne, a player who is so beloved in Naples, become one of Toronto's biggest villains in just a year-and-a-half?