Issey Nakajima-Farran was just happy to feel at home. Having spent his entire soccer career playing abroad, the 31-year-old always felt like a foreigner. He had seen local players in Japan, England, Singapore, Denmark, Australia and Cyprus all be treated like heroes, and he was ready to finally get his welcome.
That was the dream that Nakajima-Farran was imagining when he signed for Toronto FC in 2014. His return to Canada, however, would very quickly turn into a nightmare. On his birthday, and just five games into his Toronto FC career, Nakajima-Farran was abruptly traded to the Montreal Impact.