Sportsnet on Monday evening spoke one-on-one with Toronto FC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko—who was in Orlando for the team’s pre-season training camp—about a variety of subjects.

Here are the highlights of the conversation

No transfer fee or payment for Giovinco

Toronto FC confirmed Monday that Sebastian Giovinco has officially ended his tenure with Juventus and will be available to play for the Reds at the start of the 2015 MLS season.

Originally, Giovinco was slated to join TFC in July when his current contract with Juventus expired. But the Italian playmaker and his agent negotiated his early release. Bezbatchenko said Giovinco will arrive in Toronto on Thursday, and will begin training with TFC next week when the club returns from Florida.

Bezbatchenko also said that TFC did not pay any kind of transfer fee to Juventus, and that no money exchanged hands. TFC let Giovinco and his agent do the heavy lifting.

“There was no negotiation on our part with Juventus. We let it be known to Juventus that’d we certainly be interested in having him join us sooner rather that later. But this was all Giovinco,” Bezbatcehnko said.

Bezbatchenko confirmed that Giovinco will be on the payroll immediately—meaning Toronto will have to pay his full salary, and not a pro-rated half-season.

TFC’s general manager heralded the early arrival of Giovinco as “huge” for the club.

“It’s great that we got him now as opposed to July because he can spend the pre-season gelling with teammates, settling into life in Toronto and getting used to MLS,” Bezbatchenko stated.

Bezbatchenko said Giovinco topped a list of five possible designated player candidates he identified in the off-season. The Italian comes to MLS with quite the reputation, having featured for Juventus and the Italian national team. But Bezbatchenko warns that it might take Giovinco some time to find his feet in MLS.

“If you look at a lot of the internationals who’ve joined the league in recent years, I think it took most of them some time to adapt. Very few were instant successes,” Bezbatchenko said.

“Even a guy like Clint Dempsey, who didn’t have to overcome a language and cultural barrier, he didn’t take the league by storm at first.”

It might sound like Bezbatchenko is already getting his excuses ready with Giovinco. But he says you can’t underestimate how some foreign players are overcome by homesickness in MLS.

“If you look at Jermain (Defoe) he missed home a lot. There was other stuff going on too, but he had a hard time adapting—and he spoke English. For Giovinco, who’s always played in Italy and doesn’t speak English, it might take him some time,” Bezbatchenko offered.

“That’s why it is really advantageous to us to have him here now, instead of waiting until July. This is huge for us.”

Off-season building by design

Bezbatchenko has addressed many of the club’s key roster issues this off-season. Defoe is gone, and was replaced by Jozy Altidore. Damien Perquis and Eriq Zavaleta were added to bolster a defence that was lacking depth.

Benoit Cheyrou is expected to partner Michael Bradley in central midfield. And Giovinco should provide the Reds with a touch of playmaking class.

Past off-seasons has seen TFC management scramble to fill out the roster before the start of the MLS campaign. This time around, though, TFC appears to have most of its ducks in a row. That was by design, according to Bezbatchenko.

“Did we set specific target dates in terms of wanting certain things done? No. But there was a collective decision to, what we like call, ‘act with intent.’ We recognized the sooner we address the big issues we’d be giving ourselves a better chance for success on the field,” Bezbatchenko said.

“We want to act with intent from a managerial perspective but also from a player perspective. So the way this off-season has transpired wasn’t by accident. We knew we had to have our core group of guys in place well before the start of the season.”

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Cheyrou signing a coup

Overshadowed by the signings of Giovinco and Altidore was the addition last week of free agent midfielder Benoit Cheyrou.

Cheyrou, 33, has spent his entire career in Ligue 1, the French topflight, featuring mostly or Olympique Marseille and he made close to 40 appearances in the UEFA Champions League.

Bezbatchenko modestly trumpeted the signing of Cheyrou, known for his cultured left foot, as “a coup” for TFC.

“We didn’t target him per se—we knew we wanted an experienced midfielder who was comfortable on the ball, who could distribute the ball and be a solid midfield presence,” Bezbatchenko explained.

“When we discovered he was available, we reached out to him because we felt he ticked all of those boxes.”

Selling him on TFC and MLS wasn’t hard.

“I think he came here for family reasons, and to experience the North American lifestyle and to try something new, while still playing in a competitive league. It didn’t take much on our part to convince him to come,” Bezbatchenko said.

How does he see Cheyrou fitting into the team?

“He’s a versatile player who can play a number of positions. Ideally, I think he partners with Bradley in the middle. He can play in a double pivot; he can play forward ahead of Bradley or vice versa. He can play in a more holding or defensive role,” Bezbatchenko said.

Other moves?

So what’s left? Is Bezbatchenko still shopping around, looking to add more big names? Or is just going to do a little tinkering?

“Tinkering is a good way to describe it. I like the squad we have right now, but you never know what happens in pre-season. Sometimes you see things or learn things and you have to adjust,” Bezbatchenko said.

“But barring anything major coming up, I think at the moment we’re just looking to add complimentary pieces here and there.”

While players with name value such as Bradley and Giovinco grab the headlines, Bezbatchenko feels it’s those “complimentary pieces” that are the difference between a team being a playoff side and MLS Cup champions.

“Guys like Justin Morrow, Mark Bloom and, hopefully, Jay Chapman, are the ones you need to put you over the top. You need to round out your roster with players like that in order to achieve true balance and depth. You can’t sign 11 DPs,” Bezbatchenko quipped.

Team exploring its options with Gilberto

Although Gilberto continues to train with Vasco da Gama, the Brazilian forward remains a member of Toronto FC.

“We have not sold him to Vasco, to any team in Brazil or any other team. Gilberto remains a TFC player,” Bezbatchenko said.

The recent addition of Giovinco means Toronto now has four designated players. MLS teams are only allowed three. Unless the new collective bargaining agreement currently being negotiated calls for the DP limit to be increased, Gilberto will be the odd man out—and MLS insiders tell Sportsnet that the chances of a fourth DP slot being added are “highly unlikely.”

Bezbatchenko said the team is still exploring its options within MLS and talking to other clubs. Although the European transfer deadline passed on Monday, the transfer window in Brazil and several other countries around the world doesn’t close until later this winter.

Toronto could also trade Gilberto or loan him out—it’s very unlikely they are going to pay his contract down to a non-DP level, as that would cost more than $800,000. So one way another, Gilberto will be gone.

“Nothing is imminent (in terms of a sale or trade or loan) but things can change pretty quickly. One way or another we have to be roster compliant by March 31,” Bezbatchenko said.