For a few hours on Tuesday it felt like Christmas came a month early for Toronto FC supporters.
That's when separate reports from Italy and England surfaced, claiming that international forwards Jermaine Defoe and Alberto Gilardino were on their way to Toronto FC on transfers from the English Premier League and Serie A.
But Toronto FC poured cold water over the news late Tuesday night.
When contacted by MLSsoccer.com, a spokesperson for the club indicated that reports about the players' impending signings were inaccurate.
TFC president and CEO Tim Leiweke has been vocal in recent months about his desire to sign two big-name Designated Players at the striker position ahead of Toronto’s 2014 MLS campaign. Defoe and Gilardino would certainly seem to fit the bill.
Earlier this month, Leiweke also announced that Toronto FC would be making the biggest signing in MLS history within the next 30 days when he spoke at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
A report in the online edition of British newspaper The Daily Mirror claimed on Tuesday that Defoe is set to leave current club Tottenham Hotspur in January to join Toronto FC on a lucrative four-year deal.
A few hours earlier, La Repubblica out of Italy reported that Gilardino was set to signl with TFC, with another Italian insider saying that it was a three-year deal kicking off in June 2014.
In addition to Defoe and Gilardino, various media outlets have also linked TFC with Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o, Tottemham forward Emmanuel Adebayor and Italian international Fabio Quagliarella in recent weeks.
