With Sebastian Giovinco gone and Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley approaching the end of their contracts, some wonder if Toronto FC’s era of big-time Designated Players is closing.
Altidore certainly hopes not.
The big striker has expressed his love for Toronto – and underlined how much he has left to give – in an in-depth conversation with the Toronto Sun during TFC’s preseason camp in Southern California.
“I still have five, six, seven great years ahead of me,” said the US international, who is in the final stages of recovery from an ankle problem. “I haven’t had a muscle injury since 2016 and I feel good about that. It’s been three years now and all I’ve had is a broken foot and the ligament tear in the ankle.
“But surgery fixed those and I’m back to 100 percent fit. And I showed last year that I can still score goals when I’m on the field. So for me, there’s no [injury] worries at all and the club knows my situation. They know how fit I am and what the expectation is with that.”
Altidore, 29, is reportedly in the final year of his DP contract and though he says renewal talks between the club and his agent have yet to bear fruit, he’s eager to stay in The 6ix for the long haul.
“I want to stay in Toronto. For me and my family, Toronto is home, Toronto is everything,” Altidore said. “But if the direction is something else, it’s no problem. Like I said, it would be, ‘Thank you very much for the time’ and in the summertime I’ll have to look for a new team.
“I get that there is a business side and I’ve cooperated on that end as well. But I can’t do any more than say I want to be here and try to do all the right things. But I hope in the end that I’m a Toronto player for the rest of my career.”
