Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne to debut for Toronto FC this weekend

With that looming, Toronto are cognizant of bringing along their new stars in a steady fashion, recognizing they’d normally be gearing up for the European season.

“In a perfect world, this would be a week into preseason for these two guys,” Bradley said. “But the way things were set up this year, they were coming in in the middle of the year, or a little past the middle of the year.

“Whenever you’re taking players in the middle of the season, how you integrate them into the team – in all ways, with ideas, with minutes – it’s all very, very important. These guys, it wouldn’t work well for them or for the team in the long haul if we go crazy with that stuff. We’re working as a staff with our performance people, with our medical people to make sure in all those ways we’re smart about it.”

There are also league considerations, of course, with Toronto currently 13th in the Eastern Conference standings. They’re eight points beneath the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line with 13 regular-season games remaining (5W-12L-4D record; 19 points).

In a competitive match, Insigne last played for Napoli in late May. Bernardeschi last played June 1 in the Conmebol-UEFA Cup of Champions vs. Argentina.