Sebastian Giovinco is pulling an Andrea Pirlo.
Pirlo, the New York City FC veteran midfielder, came out this week with a rumor-crushing post that terminated once and for all any sort of speculation about a potential loan move back to Italy’s Serie A with the names of Inter Milan and Juventus coming up in recent weeks.
Giovinco similarly squashed any possibility of an offseason loan anywhere in Europe via his agent, Andrea D’Amico, who appeared on Rai Sport’s Zona11 show in Italy (watch the clip at the 1hr 14min mark). Waking the Red’s Dave Rowan was the first to highlight D’Amico’s comments.
"No. Absolutely not,” D’Amico said in response to a question about a potential loan to Lazio as a way to boost Giovinco’s chances to make the Italian national team for the Euro 2016 tournament. "Giovinco made a decision [to play for Toronto FC] of which he’s absolutely convinced and with which he’s happy. And on top of that, Toronto FC have invested in him for a project that is not based on single moments or buzz.
"So now they go on vacation and they start preparations again in Florida at the end of January to get ready for the next season and to do even better [than 2014]."
And how about that talk of Spanish giants FC Barcelona making an attempt to secure Giovinco’s services after an MVP-caliber campaign of 22 goals and 16 assists with Toronto FC? Reports indicated that TFC dismissed the approaches.
"There was interest, but nothing too in-depth,” D’Amico said about the Barcelona talk. "It’s a little amazing that these kinds of teams didn’t get in touch with him before he went on his adventure in North America. But right now he’s concentrated on his decision [to play for Toronto FC]."
