Expensive transfer didn't pay off on the field, but gave team a model for future success.
Toronto FC midfielder Will Johnson was sitting in his living room nearly three years ago, watching as his now-club unveiled the fruits of its much-touted Bloody Big Deal campaign u2015 his childhood friend Michael Bradley and English Premier League import Jermaine Defoe u2015 to fanfare rarely fuelled by soccer on this side of the Atlantic.
“I remember sitting in my living room watching the press conference and was amazed that this is our league, that we’re getting superstar players coming back,” Johnson, who was a member of the Portland Timber at the time, said Wednesday.