Halifax Wanderers acquire Jordan Perruzza on loan from Toronto FC

The Halifax Wanderers’ impressive summer transfer business continued on Monday with the club announcing that it has acquired Canadian forward Jordan Perruzza on loan from Major League Soccer side Toronto FC until the end of the 2023 season.

Perruzza, a 22-year-old Toronto native, arrives in Halifax after spending most of his professional career within the TFC system. He has played 30 games in total for the senior MLS club, including six this year, and he has scored twice.

One of Perruzza’s goals for TFC, ironically, came at the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, where he scored a header from a corner to put the Reds in front during their 2022 Canadian Championship quarter-final match. He also lifted the Voyageurs’ Cup as a member of TFC in June 2022, scoring a penalty in the shootout as Toronto defeated Forge FC in the rescheduled 2020 Canadian Championship final.

Perruzza has also played 42 games for Toronto FC II (competing in both USL and MLS NEXT Pro), for whom he’s scored 19 goals, as well as 12 USL Championship matches on loan for San Antonio FC, where he scored four times.

“He’s an out-and-out prolific number nine type of attacker that plays the brand of football we want, so I’m excited to have him in our group,” Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar said. “His maturity is quite high, he connects his passes really well and is a terrific finisher. It’s integral for us to have depth and be prepared for tough games, and having him a part of our organization gives us that.”

As a youth player, Perruzza appeared for a number of local clubs in the Toronto area including Woodbridge Strikers, Vaughan SC and the TFC Academy, but he also spent four years from 2014 to 2018 in the academy of Italian Serie A side Empoli.

Internationally, Perruzza has represented Canada at youth level, playing in four out of five games at the 2018 Concacaf U-20 Championship and scoring a goal against Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Perruzza, a centre-forward who can also play in a variety of different positions across the front line, joins a Halifax Wanderers attacking group that’s already been bolstered this summer by the arrival of João Morelli and also features the likes of Massimo Ferrin, Tiago Coimbra and Théo Collomb.

He’ll be the third player to arrive in Halifax this summer, following Morelli’s return to training and the acquisition of centre-back Doneil Henry earlier in July. In a separate move, the Wanderers also announced Wednesday that forward Ludwig Kodjo Amla has been placed on the ineligible list and is not a member of the club’s active roster.

The Wanderers, sixth in the CPL table as it stands with a 6-7-4 record, will continue their quest to host a first-ever home CPL playoff game this weekend as they take on Pacific FC at home on Natal Day — this Monday, Aug. 7 (3 p.m. AT/2 p.m. ET).