Toronto FC makes defender Henry Wingo its first signing of secondary transfer window

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Toronto FC has made American defender Henry Wingo its first signing of the secondary transfer window.

A club spokesman confirmed the signing of the 28-year-old from Seattle, who played most recently for Ferencvarosi in Hungary.

TFC came close to getting Wingo in the primary transfer window but Ferencvarosi, in a title run, opted to keep him — until now. He arrives as a free agent, his contract with the Budapest-based club having expired.

Wingo spent three years at the University of Washington before signing a homegrown contact with the Seattle Sounders in January 2017.

Wingo made 22 appearances (including three starts) in three seasons with his hometown Major League Soccer club — and 31 USL appearances for the Tacoma Defiance — before being sold to Norway’s side Molde FK in August 2019. After winning the Norwegian title, he joined Ferencvarosi in 2021 and went on to win four straight Hungarian titles.

A former midfielder, Wingo has played in the back recently. Toronto has favoured a back three under coach John Herdman with defenders given licence to move forward.

The secondary transfer window opened last Friday and runs through Aug. 8 in Canada. The U.S. window opens Thursday and runs through Aug. 14.

Toronto GM Jason Hernandez said last week the club was close to landing one of its targets.

“At the moment we feel pretty confident we’re at the finish line with a defender that we hope to formalize, finalize and announce early next week. Fingers crossed,” said the GM. “We look forward to that because we do feel the player we’re looking to secure will give us a big boost.”

Hernandez said how active the club is in the transfer window will depend on how many players it moves out, to make roster and salary cap room.

Toronto plays at Inter Miami on Wednesday.