THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Dwayne De Rosario may have made headlines more lately for his notable absence from Toronto.
But Toronto FC officials insisted Thursday their team captain will be back with the club when it gathers for training camp at the end of the month.
De Rosario is in Scotland on a training stint with Celtic FC, which seemed to come as a surprise to some. Earl Cochrane, the outgoing interim director of soccer, told reporters De Rosario had no plans to train in Europe just a day before pictures of De Rosario jogging in a Celtic jersey were splashed across newspapers and websites.
"There’s no issue there. There’s a bit of confusion in what’s being reported," Tom Anselmi, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s chief operating officer, said Thursday. "But Dwayne is over there training now. He’s going to be back ready for training camp. What happened was miscommunication before New Year’s. He was on his way over there and insurance hadn’t been put in place yet.
"Once that happened, fine, we support him 100 per cent."
Toronto FC ushered in a new era Thursday, naming Aron Winter the new head coach, Bob de Klerk his first assistant, and Paul Mariner, the director of player development.
The trio was peppered with questions about De Rosario at a news conference and insisted De Rosario’s status with the club hasn’t changed.
"At this present moment in time, absolutely, he’s the captain of the club," said Mariner. "I think he’s the spiritual leader of the club, he’s an extremely talented player.
"The one thing we’ve got to do is have a dialogue with every single player and find out what makes them tick, and I think it would be prudent to start with the captain. From what I’ve seen from the outside looking in, he’s an inspirational guy, just a wonderful worker in the community, and equally had a fantastic season last year."
De Rosario is expected to arrive back in Toronto on Jan. 18.
There’s still the issue of De Rosario’s salary. The dynamic player and Toronto’s all-time leading scorer with 31 goals wasn’t happy with his contract that paid him about $443,750 last season. Teammate Julian de Guzman made $1,717,546, while Mista’s contract was for $987,337.50 (although he only earned a pro-rated part since he arrived at midseason).
During a 3-2 loss to San Jose late last season, De Rosario celebrated a goal by pretending to write a cheque, an action he later apologized for.
"There are things we’re trying to work out with the league," Mariner said. "I don’t really want to go into it any further than that, but we’re trying to work something out."