Toronto FC has used Drake to recruit players

Toronto FC has used Drake to recruit potential player signings. (David Sandford/Getty Images)

Apparently, Toronto FC has no problem letting prospective players know that they are going to be starting from the bottom.

A Toronto source told SI's Grant Wahl that the club has used native Torontonian and star recording artist Drake in an effort to lure players to sign on at BMO Field. The club has been making some serious noise during its offseason, courting Alberto Gilardino, Jermaine Defoe and Samuel Eto'o, and while it's unclear whether Drake has been target="_blank">taking care of this specific DP mission, it certainly is an intriguing tactic.

https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/405505622801907712

Drake has not concealed his TFC fervor at all, even posting pictures on his Instagram account in August 2012 of him in full uniform doing drills on BMO's field, and he's apparently putting that fandom to the ultimate use by giving TFC a recruiting nod where it's lack of winning tradition cannot.

WAHL: Toronto FC adds Eto'o to Gilardino, Defoe on wish list

TFC failed to make the playoffs yet again in 2013, making the club 0-for-7 since joining MLS in 2007. There will be no CONCACAF Champions League for the club next summer either, after it lost its grasp on the Canadian Championship following four straight titles. With Tim Leiweke running the show, though, the expectations are that star power will be brought in to rectify the problems and for Leiweke to have the same success in building a winner in Toronto that he did in Los Angeles with the David Beckham-era Galaxy.