After a positive transitional year for Toronto FC in 2024, you would’ve expected them to continue their climb out of the deep hole they found themselves in & build upon the 2025 campaign, however, from the beginning, their problems re-arose, and they never recovered. For the fifth consecutive season, soccer in Toronto ended without a playoff berth once again.

Robin Fraser took over as head coach in early January of 2025 while this front office looked to continue to work under their constraints, add key pieces, and continue to overhaul this roster.

This wasn’t a surprise for this Toronto FC side as everybody knew that it was always going to take multiple years. They’ve remained consistent in their process and have continued to improve and it shows that they’ve used the 2025 season to be another bridge year so that the club can return to being a successful MLS club. 

With the winter approaching & roster decisions published, Toronto will have greater roster flexibility than recent years, In the offseason guide:

The Positives

First thing first, exercising both of their buyouts midseason on Lorenzo Insigne & Federico Bernardeschi was excellent. These moves should’ve been done long ago & definitely defined this transitional era of the club.

Toronto went out and made a bold move by acquiring Djorde Mihailovic as their guy in an $8,000,000 cash trade in August. This is probably their best move that the club has made in the last three seasons. Acquiring the playmaker that contributed 4 goals & 4 assists in 10 games (13 goals & 11 assists in 34 games across TOR & COL) is the perfect replacement to fill the void left behind by Federico Bernardeschi. With Jonathan Osorio (4 goals & 3 assists) in the midfield with Mihailovic along with Theo Corbeanu (6 goals & 2 assists), It’s now up to head coach Robin Fraser to surround them with positive players.,

Fraser had the team very competitive for most of the season despite it being yet another transitional year as the club continued to overhaul from the previous era. 6 wins & 14 draws in a season is honestly not awful. If they turned 7-8 of those draws into wins, they’d be a playoff team. 

Additionally, this group is entering the offseason with the likes of José Cifuentes, Deandre Kerr, Jules Anthony-Vilsaint, Richie Laryea, & also have Henry Wingo returning from injury.

Though record wise, they didn’t improve, they were significantly better defensively as they allowed 15 less goals than last season.

The Negatives

This team struggled to find the net. With 7 less goals scored than last season, the club is in desperate need of a forward. 

This isn’t a shocking realization as Toronto hasn’t had a consistent center forward since Jozy Altidore was their target man.

In terms of their defense, it has improved but still needs a lot more work. 

My biggest concern for this team is easily the striker, center back, & goalkeeper position. 

Roster Flexibility

Toronto FC has a lot of flexibility. At the moment, the club has one designated player (Djorde Mihailovic) and one U-22 initiative signing (Cassius Mailula – currently on loan at KV Kortrijk). This club can decide whether or not it wants to enter the 3DP, 3U22 player model or enter the 2DP and 4 U-22s model, which includes up to $2 million in GAM, pending which route they go.

The club announced their end-of-season roster update, where they announced most contract option decisions. The club is entering the 2026 season with 21 players rostered. 

This leaves another year for GM Jason Hernandez and his staff to continue to over turn the roster and regenerate their assets. Argumentatively, this winter will be the most exciting for this Toronto FC side to determine which direction Robin Fraser takes this team in. As long as they recruit the correct assets, this team has a handful of pieces to build around. There will be a lot more flexibility and it will be exciting to monitor.

Offseason Priorities

TFC needs to sign a DP & determine which roster model they are going to pivot to. 

If the group can go out and acquire a DP forward & DP centerback, this team could very easily be a playoff team. It will be very interesting to monitor how they attack the free agent market & to see whether or not they bring back Sean Johnson after declining his option.

A center forward (should be a DP), a centerback, a goalkeeper, midfielder depth, and more defensive help.