Video: Toronto FC welcome post-Defoe era with promo dig at Sunderland striker

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The MLS club have taken a not-so-subtle shot at the departed Sunderland striker in their promo video for the coming season.

Toronto FC have further distanced themselves from the Jermain Defoe era with a not-so-subtle dig at the departed Sunderland striker in their promo video for the coming season.

Defoe, 32, arrived in Toronto from Tottenham Hotspur in the winter of 2014 to much fanfare, with their “bloody big deal” marketing campaign featuring on TV adverts, posters across the city and even a double-decker bus.

The $10 million striker would go on score 11 goals in his first 13 games with the MLS club, but a nagging groin problem saw him make just five further appearances over the final three months of the campaign, as the team missed out on a first-ever post-season spot after a disastrous meltdown.

Having grown unsettled after a failed summer switch back to the Premier League, Defoe and his hefty wages were eventually moved to Sunderland last month in a swap deal for Jozy Altidore, who now links up with US teammate and club captain Michael Bradley at BMO Field.

With the club also pulling off a major coup with the addition of Juventus star Sebastian Giovinco, their dramatic offseason rebuild has made them one of the favourites for the 2015 MLS Cup and, in the process, seen Defoe’s departure become of little consequence.

That much is clear from their new promo, which pushes the tagline for the season: “”Unite. Support. Belong”.

Opening with shots of the bloody big deal posters peeling off of a building, and the now-abandoned bus, it then pans to skipper Bradley, who was unveiled on the same afternoon as Defoe, turning off a television in dismissive fashion after pictures of London come in to view.

A cheap shot it may be, but it certainly sends the message that the luckless franchise are determined to do things right this season, although whether the likes of Altidore and Giovinco will be able to live up to their billing will be made clearer when the new campaign kicks off next month.