It has been an off-season unlike any other in recent Toronto FC history.

A little more than five weeks out from the start of the 2022 MLS regular season, the roster is still taking shape.

There has already been a lot of movement – 13 players out, seven in – and more is expected.

“The building of a team always takes time,” said TFC Head Coach and Sporting Director Bob Bradley during Wednesday’s media availability. “Most teams in the league, at the beginning of preseason, there are still questions. And it's clear that as we start this year we probably are on a list of teams where there's the most questions.”

“But it doesn't change that there are guys here that are going to play important roles and the establishing of ideas, starting to get guys going, and connect some dots. You must start. You must get going on the field,” he continued. “You must start to get the football going and then see how things go from there. We have a clear understanding of the work that's ahead of us and we're excited that we're here and that we can get started.”

After the most successful period in club history, on the back of two pandemic influenced seasons, it was time for a change. 

“There was a real feeling on the inside of the club that there needed to be some real change, maybe more change than there ever has been, at least in the time that I've been here,” levelled Michael Bradley. “Some of that has played out already and we'll see how things continue to evolve over this next stretch.”

Preseason is always a fresh start. It is even more so for TFC this time around.

“It's a club that wants to rebound from an off-year, from a year where we didn't hit our expectations and we didn't meet our standards from top to bottom,” observed Jonathan Osorio. “When that happens, at a club with a lot of ambition, change is part of that.”

“A lot of change, a lot of different faces coming in, and the start of a new era for sure,” he continued. “A lot of moving parts still. With that said, with the players that are here now, we're working and we're getting started. We're not wasting time because we know what's ahead of us this year.”

“We need to bring this club back to where we all see it being,” Osorio added. “That starts with the players here and then as players come in we fit them in and we collectively keep moving forward.”

The rebuild began in earnest last December when it was announced that Bob Bradley would be joining the club. That set a tone that was followed up at the start of the new year with the addition of Lorenzo Insigne.

It was news that shook the soccer world, especially in MLS circles.

“When you talk about trying to bring an exciting, attacking player, someone whose background is really going to resonate in our city, Lorenzo would be at the very, very top of that list. And so we're all really excited,” said Michael Bradley. “Even just the reaction the days following the announcement, it's a great signing for the league, for our team, for our club, for the city.”

Just TFC being TFC for one of its longest-serving members.

“My impression is the same as it has been for the last few years: it's a team that wants to break barriers and really set the tone for the league,” replied Osorio. “It’s the sort of club with very, very high ambition.”

“It started a while back and it's still true today, they're willing to invest and they always want to bring the very best to MLS and to Toronto. I’m not surprised that this club goes out and tries to get a player like Lorenzo Insigne,” he continued. “And this is good. This is the type of environment that players want to be a part of: we want to be part of an organization that wants to win and be the very best in every way.”

“It's an exciting time, but also with that, it's not just getting in players, you have to do the work,” Osorio reminded. “There's a lot of work to be done. We don't forget that part.”

That work has already begun and the search for further reinforcements continues apace.

In addition to signing defender Shane O’Neill as a free agent and Insigne as a designated player, TFC has inked a pair of homegrown players – Luca Petrasso and Deandre Kerr, selected two local prospects in the MLS SuperDraft – goalkeeper Luka Gavran and foward Reshaun Walkes, and just today announced that Scarborough-born goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh has been added to the squad.

Add in a pair of new deals for young forwards Ayo Akinola and Jordan Perruzza and it is clear that the club expects some of the answers to the aforementioned questions will come from within.

Last season saw a raft of youngsters – Ralph Priso, Jacob Shaffelburg, Nobel Okello, Perruzza, Jayden Nelson, Luke Singh, and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty – take big steps forward. 

They will be expected to do even more this time around.

“This is this is life. This is football,” said Michael Bradley. “When guys move on it leaves opportunities for others. We have a bunch of young guys who have continued to make strides and we're going to ask them to make bigger strides this year.”

“I know firsthand how my dad is able to work with young players and to coach them and to make them better,” he highlighted. “And when you look at the starting points and the qualities of some of our young guys, it's really exciting.”

Priso, who missed the second half of the season with injury after all but locking down a spot in the starting XI, was back in training.

“Ralph has made progress, he's been working with the medical staff,” said Bob Bradley. “We'll have to monitor him as we go through this first part of preseason, but it was great to see him on the field today.”

Just one of the many youngsters in his charge that Coach Bradley is eager to impart with his knowledge.

“I'm excited. I've talked about so many different guys in the last 20 minutes, but just this idea of coaching players, coaching things that you see,” said Bradley, replying to a question about Marshall-Rutty. “There was a play or two today where he got a ball with a little bit of space in front of him and I didn't think he was confident to take the ball and move it forward. And so I was encouraging him to be on the move, to get forward a little bit more.”

“I didn't go into today's training session with a list that included something like that. That was something that developed in training and that's usually how I work,” he outlined. “That we create a training session that has game actions that replicate the way we want to play and then from there you see things that need to be corrected and worked on. And you do that every day, over and over, and hopefully make players better and that helps create a good team.”