Twitter rumours suggest Sebastian Giovinco is heading to Saudi Arabia

Anybody interested in a little Friday afternoon panic?

Some sources today are suggesting that a move away from Toronto FC may be imminent for Sebastian Giovinco:

Giovinco has been quite vocal in recent times about wanting to get a new contract with the club finalized sooner rather than later.

He said on MLS Media Day: “I’ve loved my time there, and if it continues, fantastic, because I’ve set roots there. My family loves it there,” adding “But at the same time, if it doesn’t work out and I do end up leaving, I’m looking forward to it, also. I’ll be a free agent, so to speak. So I’ll have an opportunity I’ve never had in my career, in terms of playing in different places and being free.”

That quote scared a lot of people, who took that to mean Giovinco was either going to either re-sign in the next month, or start looking elsewhere. It appears that he may be looking elsewhere...

That tweet roughly translates to “A Saudi entry visa was issued to Italian player Giovinco,” according to Twitter’s translation tool.

The club rumoured to be taking him is Al-Hilal, who are currently first in their domestic league. Their fans are already celebrating the signing, depsite a lack of proof that it’s happened:

To make this rumour seem even more plausible, Giovinco said to reporters that he had received interest from another club on the day that fans were already disappointed about the departure of Victor Vazquez.

There were mixed reactions from Toronto FC fans on twitter, some angry and some that simply assumed it was just another case of Giovinco pushing for a contract, which as I’m sure you already know, he hasn’t been shy about.

Given the recent exodus from Toronto FC (Vazquez, Hagglund, van der Wiel, Bezbatchenko, etc.), is there something seriously wrong brewing behind the scenes?

Is there any truth to this rumour? Possibly. Could it just be the most extreme attempt yet from his agent to force Toronto FC to give him a contract? Maybe. Are we all currently freaking out? Absolutely.