Toronto FC finding form as Lorenzo Insigne arrives in Canada

As Toronto FC beat Atlanta United on Saturday, the cameras couldn't help but keep panning to Lorenzo Insigne in the BMO Field stands.

The Italian forward landed in Canada earlier in the week ahead of officially completing his free transfer from Napoli - eligible to play once the MLS secondary transfer window opens on July 1.

Insigne seemed to be enjoying himself, celebrating TFC goals from Jonathan Osorio and Raphael Prso and getting involved in some songs with the supporters. But more important is what the forward - still only 31 and with plenty left to offer - will produce on the field in Ontario.

Toronto have lost just one of their last six games across all competitions, advancing to the Canadian Championship final and moving within five points of the MLS Cup Playoff spots with 18 regular-season matches still to play. Arguably the perfect time to add a superstar Euro 2020 winner to their ranks.

“I don't want to say that we planned this and it's perfect timing, but it’s a good time to get going,” Osorio said after the 2-1 win over Atlanta. “I think the guys that have been [here] for a while, the core guys, we know how important these summer months are in this league – especially this stretch with the amount of home games that we have. We understand the importance.

“Now with the summer window coming, I know the club is going to be making moves as you’ve already seen and you’re hearing, and so it’s exciting. It’s exciting that everything is coming together as it should all at the right time it feels like.”

Though he left talk of Insigne to reporters and supporters, head coach Bob Bradley is equally pleased with the positive trend he's seeing from TFC. With the exception of a 2-0 defeat to the New York Red Bulls, Toronto have been scoring goals freely on their recent run, finding their groove with the ball.

“They feel good about the improvement,” said Bradley. “We were disappointed with the result against Red Bull, but there was a feeling that we had stretches of playing good football that day, didn't take advantage of chances. We were able to carry that into the cup match against Montreal, created a bunch of chances.

“Some of the details, the understanding, the ability to connect faster. Finding the right ways to get people closer and then still extend the field, have deep runs, those are ideas that good attacking teams can implement.

"I love to see when the midfield connects. When you've got ability to play faster through there then that makes it hard on the other team and that also opens up opportunities to get people on the move wide. And then when you go from inside-outside and [defenders] move, you can come back inside. Those are attacking ideas that are getting better. I see guys getting sharper.”

TFC's final game before Insigne becomes eligble is at home to the Columbus Crew on Wednesday.