TORONTO

It’s easy to pick out Toronto FC’s latest signing at the club’s Kia Training Ground, just north of the city.

With former fan-favourite Joao Plata gone, 5-foot-nothing Manny Aparicio stands out among men, some nearly twice his age.

Aparicio, TFC’s recently turned 18-year-old homegrown player, is settling into the club’s first team after spending time in its youth academy.

And if there was any doubt as to whether he belongs, the Argentina-born Canadian youth international potted his first goal for TFC’s reserves over the weekend in Chicago.

“I’ve always wanted to be at this level,” he told the Toronto Sun. “It has been my dream since I was a kid. There was no hesitation when they offered me the contract.”

Talking to Aparicio you can see and hear the passion he has for the game. He’s often the last player off the training pitch, carrying equipment with the rest of Toronto’s rookies as gesture of respect to the club’s more established players.

Always learning, never taking a day off, Aparicio’s different from the club’s previous homegrown talent.

Guys like midfielder Matt Stinson, who a TFC staff member once told the Sun didn’t have the work ethic to be a professional footballer. Stinson was cut earlier this season to make room for additional signings.

The same goes for Oscar Cordon and Keith Makubuya, two more TFC Academy graduates whose development came to a halt under former head coaches Aron Winter and Paul Mariner.

“I wouldn’t even know who those guys are,” TFC assistant coach Fran O’Leary said before offering assurances TFC’s current staff will develop Aparicio at an appropriate pace.

“We’ll bring him along properly. We’ll look next season at how we can get our younger players more games. A gap exists there and we’re eager to close it. (New general manager) Tim Bezbatchenko is working on it right now.

“When he’s ready, he’ll get his chance. We won’t put him in as a gimmick beforehand. The key for him next season will be to get some games in somewhere. He has been terrific. He’s just come back from Guatemala and from all accounts he did well there.”

Aparicio is currently part of Canada’s under-18 setup which is smartly preparing for CONCACAF under-20 qualifying close to two years in advance.

It has allowed TFC’s latest homegrown signing to continue his development even if first-team games are hard to come by in the early stages of his career.

“The national team is helping,” Aparicio said. “This was our third (under-18) camp. It’s helping us get games in and play with each other.”

As an aside, he summarized back-to-back 1-0 losses Canada’s under-18s suffered in Guatemala earlier this month, a proactive initiative from the oft-embattled Canadian Soccer Association.

“The pitch was really bad,” Aparicio explained. “It had ant hills on it. The Guatemalans were used to it. They were good, but I think we were better.”

As he has learned, not everything is fair in this game, or in the industry.

Had he elected to continue developing at the academy level, TFC’s youngest midfielder’s secondary route could have taken him through the NCAA, where a number of his former teammates will likely be headed.

“In their minds, they want to go to school right now,” Aparicio said. “They want to pursue that. There’s no problem with that, you know? They can go to school and then maybe get drafted after a few years. There’s no problem with that.”

It’s one of the many perspectives TFC Academy heads are instilling into the minds of their top talent.

“We talk to our top talent on what their future could look like,” TFC Academy director Thomas Rongen told the Sun. “Can we find an inter-medium though an MLS club? We’re working on that right now ... Every situation is different and unique.

“That could be a first team like Manny, that could be a college situation or a combination of both.”

For now, though, he joins a handful of semi-successful TFC Academy graduates who are paving the way for young players throughout the city – guys like Doneil Henry and Ashtone Morgan, who are earning caps at the senior national team level.

“All the homegrown players are together,” Aparicio said. “Everyone is great. Everyone is teaching me, guiding me. It helps a lot.”

ORLANDO VOTES ON STADIUM

Orange County (Orlando, Fla.) officials have voted in favour of allotting $20 million in tourist taxes to help fund a public-private initiative to build a downtown soccer stadium.

The vote, which was attended by hundreds of the club’s supporters Tuesday night, appears to be the final hurdle in Orlando City Soccer Club’s attempts to bring Major League Soccer to central Florida.

MLS president Mark Abbott hinted to the Orlando Sentinel this week the city will likely be awarded the league’s 21st franchise if a soccer-specific venue is constructed.

Major League Soccer announced New York City FC, co-owned by the New York Yankees and Manchester City, as its 20th team earlier this season.

It’s possible Orlando could enter MLS alongside NYCFC in 2015.

The league hopes to expand to 24 teams by 2020, with Atlanta, Miami, Minnesota, San Antonio and additional California cities said to be in the running to receive franchises.

“Our next step is to finalize an expansion agreement and I believe that we’ll be able to do that,” Abbott told the Orlando Sentinel this week.