Gianluca Busio is the latest player to be linked with a move away from Sporting Kansas City, but he wants to make his own path. The 19-year-old has been in MLS since 2015 and is looking for an opportunity to break through at the club level.
Sporting Kansas City’s Gianluca Busio has been in the MLS for a few years now, but he is still aiming to chart his own path.
The clinks of Coronas, a loud Bad Bunny tune, and the frantic flurry of juggling rings soundtrack the night outside Red Bull Arena.
Inside, a sprite with copper-tinged hair skates about his peers in hot-pink cleats: Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio, who is just a few weeks away from turning 19.
At a session earlier this week, Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes gave “Bus” (his nickname, pronounced “Boose”) an order: “Cause havoc.” For the wunderkind from Greensboro, North Carolina, it’s almost a mantra.
Busio recalls his youth to ESPN, saying, “I didn’t have plush animals, I had tiny soccer balls.” “Before I could walk, my brother dribbled about the house. I was [off] and kicking as fast as I could.”
At 15 years, 2 months, and 28 days, Busio became the youngest player to sign a Major League Soccer contract since Freddy Adu. He wanted a tattoo but was too young; his mother, Dionne, agreed that he could have one after he scored his first goal. Busio hit the back of the goal after less than 180 minutes on the field.
Make it three next time, Dionne reasoned.
Dionne expected Busio to be 18 when it occurred, but shortly before he turned 17, he became the youngest player in Major League Soccer ever to score in three consecutive games.
To put it another way, Busio’s body of work (both literally and metaphorically) has been transformed into a living painting. Dionne has ceased to set goals for her kid.
She quipped, “He came out ass-backwards and has been doing everything backwards since.”
It’s difficult to disagree. Most people do not leave home at the age of 14 to pursue a professional sports career. Most people don’t have to gain the respect of one of the most famous figures in American men’s soccer before they can vote.
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Vermes recalls, “I had this idea for him [coming in].” “We spent the preseason, training, and two or three weeks with our second team.”
“I had to rip up the strategy by the end of the preseason. He was already talented enough to be a member of the first team.”
Most people aren’t aware that they are the second-youngest American to ever make a Gold Cup squad for the United States men’s national team.
“His moment has come,” US coach Gregg Berhalter stated yesterday, when he introduced Busio in the 62nd minute of the team’s opening match against Haiti, putting an end to doubts over Busio’s international future.
Busio completed 90.3 percent of his passes in less than 30 minutes on the pitch and came within inches of a debut wonder goal for the ages, a half-volley from the upper 90 that forced a save. He flourished on and off the field, dictating the tempo of a US team that was anticipated to reach the final.
As is typical of Busio.
Sources close to the talks suggest a move could be finalized as early as next week, with clubs from Italy, Portugal, and Belgium competing for his talents.
You may assume Busio has discovered a massive rabbit’s foot, but if you ask him, everything is going according to plan.
“I have to relocate,” a 14-year-old Gianluca decided, his parents perplexed.
Busio had just returned from his first young U.S. Soccer camp call-up after being spotted at a regional competition by UConn recruiting guru and coach Mike Miller while playing for the North Carolina Fusion. He’d become friends with Atlanta United FC’s George Bello, Borussia Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna, and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Joe Scally, respectively. They’d spoken about U.S. Soccer’s developing academy system, how it was modeled after European academies and offered a built-in route to professional soccer in the US.
Busio’s future began to take shape in front of him.
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Dionne recalls, “It was his first time playing with [those people].” “‘I have to do this,’ he says. I have to play with people like these on a regular basis.’”
Dionne waitressed her way through UNC-Greensboro from a bachelor’s degree to a PhD in the late 1980s. A technician from an Italian textile firm came in one day, having visited his company’s Greensboro center. Dionne told a friend that she fell in love with Alessandro at first sight. They’ve been married for 32 years and have three children.
Dr. Busio, who turned those degrees into a job as an associate professor of family and children studies at Appalachian State University, adds, “I grew up in the South Bronx, he’s from Italy.” “It’s a small world.”
Alessandro wasn’t much of a player himself, but he instilled his enthusiasm in Gianluca and his elder brother, Matteo, who went on to play at UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Charlotte, respectively.
Busio laughs as he says, “He still instructs me what to do.” “If I get a hat trick, he’ll tell me, ‘Good work, but score four next time.’”
Kismet worked her spell on Dionne and Alessandro, but they were caught off guard when their youngest devised a scheme that went against all Dionne had fought for. So their 14-year-old kid explained to them how becoming a part of an MLS team’s academy would place him among the top players in the nation. It would enable him to dedicate more time to soccer, and it would provide a pathway from amateur to professional. He looked into academies, made connections, and got his parents in touch with them.
He landed on the phrase “I have to move.”
“‘You’re 14,’ I said. ‘Be calm and do your schoolwork,’ says the narrator.” Dionne reminisces. “To persuade him to tidy his room, I had to sit on him, but it worked. It was all down to him.”
After meeting with Sporting KC, Seattle, and Philadelphia — and declining academy opportunities with Fulham and Manchester United — Busio chose SKC because of their track record of producing players like Erik Palmer-Brown and Steven Enna, who are currently playing for Austria Wien (on loan from Manchester City) and FC Fredericia in Denmark, respectively.
Since making his Sporting Kansas City debut as a 16-year-old in 2018, Gianluca Busio has been nothing short of a revelation. Gary Rohman is a writer who lives in New York City -Source: USA TODAY Sports
He was going to live with a host family 1,000 miles west. Busio, who is half-black and half-Italian, would live in the Bible Belt with a white family, the Tiedts. “How could you send your kid across the country?” Dionne’s sister yelled.
“All I said was, ‘You have to have trust,’” Dionne explains. “I didn’t want to leave my child’s upbringing to chance,” Dionne explains, “so we were extremely engaged, but they were God-sent.” “It was like though [Gianluca] had two more parents.”
Busio, who still shares birthdays with the Tiedts, grins when he hears of Dionne’s anxiety. “They believed they’d have four more years with me,” says the narrator.
Busio’s composure astounded several of his new colleagues when he came in Missouri.
Vermes compares him to Spider-Man. ‘With great power comes tremendous responsibility,’ says the proverb.
“He was amazing on and off the field,” recalls Roger Espinoza, a midfielder for Sporting KC and a Honduran international. “A really modest young man. Every day in practice, you can see how hard he works and how much he wants to succeed.”
Graham Zusi, a Sporting KC icon and perennial USMNT sparkplug, recalls Busio’s signing day vividly.
“What are the chances of a 15-year-old signing with the first team? It wasn’t like that at all, “Zusi explains. “However, he was constantly acting and behaving older than his years. When a man tries to take up every ounce of information he can, it’s a modest confidence.”
Matt Besler of Austin FC, then the captain of Sporting KC and a World Cup winner in 2014, had a more intimate relationship to Busio back then: he was his personal chauffeur.
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Besler explains, “His host family ended up being less than a mile from where I lived.”
Besler would drive Busio to practice in his Ford F-150 and conduct radio interviews on the way to and from their training facility — “maybe that made me look elderly,” Besler chastises.
Besler recalls, “He was simply so sophisticated for his age.” “I just had this calm self-assurance. He has skill and talent, works hard, and continues to improve.”
Busio’s flexibility, according to both Vermes and Berhalter, sets him apart from other players his age both at home and abroad.
“Everywhere he plays on the field, it’s like he’s played there his whole career,” Besler adds.
Mike Senkowski, Busio’s agent at Octagon from his earliest days as a pro, adds, “We watch a lot of kid games.” “They stand out when you see a player with so many distinct skill sets.”
“For him to be able to [play] six different positions on the field and grasp [their] nuance?” Vermes proposes. “To be able to accomplish that at his age is simply amazing.”
With his 5-foot-7, 140-pound stature, Busio knew he’d never be able to body guys off the ball. To stay up, he’d have to be smarter and faster. Busio claims, “I’m not a freak athlete or anything.” “I was always good enough on the ball to stay up technically, and that’s what I relied on for a long time.”
It’s possible that “leaned on” is an exaggeration.
Zusi, who has been out for nearly a year recuperating from surgery on his left foot, says he was blown away by Busio’s improvement while rehabilitating.
“His mindset coming into this season was where we saw the greatest jump,” Zusi adds. “‘Holy cow, did you just watch what he did?’ it was like. It’s been amazing to see his development from last autumn to this spring. [The whole crew] was absolutely giddy with anticipation of the possibilities.”
“What he’s been able to do is not unexpected to us.”
This season, his numbers seem like they’re straight out of FIFA 21: Busio is one of just two MLS players with 1,000 touches and an 89 percent passing rate. He’s one of eight midfielders with a passing percentage in the attacking third over 83 percent (minimum 900 minutes). He also leads MLS in midfield possessions won and is one of just seven players in the league with 600 or more passes received.
“It’s just a matter of time until we see him move,” Zusi adds, given what he’s been up to.
It wasn’t simply a question of time until Europe called; they’ve been calling for quite some time.
“You see young guys who are simply roller-coaster rides at times,” Besler adds. “However, with Busio, it’s simply been a steady increase.”
Veneto, Fiorentina, and Spezia from Serie A, Sporting CP from Portugal, and Genk, the current Belgian Cup winners, are all said to be in the running. Busio would join fellow American youngster Tanner Tessmann at American-owned Venezia for a club-record sum, according to reports. Fiorentina is owned by Rocco B. Commisso, the Italian-American CEO of Mediacom, who grew up in the Bronx like Dionne.
There were also speculations regarding Alessandro’s hometown club, Brescia, and Busio’s hero, Andrea Pirlo, joining there. The asking price for his move has ranged from $3 million to $10 million, making Busio one of the most costly exits in Major League Soccer history. It was recently (and erroneously) claimed that a $6 million agreement with Sassuolo had been completed. In the autumn, SKC turned down a $4 million bid from Fiorentina, as well as two additional proposals this winter.
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“No matter how old you are, being associated with major clubs will always be meaningful,” Busio adds. “Like everyone else, I’m following the rumors. I simply want to keep playing good enough to bring them to life.”
It’s all just noise to Busio. Noise that was welcomed, but noise nevertheless.
Busio confesses, “Europe was always my aim, always the plan.” “I don’t want to hurry anything or push anything. I want to create an immediate impression.”
“I don’t want to be a statistic.”
Busio broke out in a cold sweat on June 30. He’d been informed the United States’ Gold Cup roster would be decided that day a week ago and hadn’t heard anything until 9 p.m.
So, like most 19-year-olds, Bus attempted to forget about it by playing video games with his friends.
He was taken aback when he received a call from Berhalter an hour later. He’d made it to the other side.
“I had a nice night’s sleep that night,” he adds with a toothy smile.
Another box had been checked. One that, despite captaining and scoring the lone goal for the United States at the U17 World Cup in 2019, didn’t seem to be within reach until lately.
I’d previously overlooked the powder blue Sporting KC scarf hanging romantically behind him, the only item adorning the wall next to his desk, since I was looking through Zoom. The significance of that hue and crest, which has propelled Busio from a Greensboro kid to the United States men’s national team and on the verge of one of the most significant moves in league history, is apparent.
It was formerly considered a pipe dream.
Gianluca Busio made his men’s national team debut against Haiti in the Gold Cup this week. Getty Images/Icon Sportswire/Nick Tre. Smith
Manchester United wanted him to go through their system and be a part of what they were doing over there, according to Senkowski. “Why did he decline it? Because Gianluca appreciated Sporting KC’s family-like atmosphere. They performed an excellent job of setting up a road to success for him, with almost every step of the way going as planned or even better.”
But, for Busio’s sake, there are still games this week. Only these players, who are wearing the senior team’s colors for the first time, exude gravity.
Several sources contacted expressed doubts that Busio would make the Gold Cup squad, citing the U23s’ rejection of the Sporting KC star. Busio was not chosen for the Olympic qualifying team, and they failed to qualify once again.
“It’s insane that he hasn’t been called in,” Zusi adds, “particularly on the Olympic qualification squad.” “He had the potential to be a tremendous addition to that group.”
Busio’s ascension has reached such a pinnacle in soccer’s zeitgeist that when the roster was announced, Berhalter was bombarded with inquiries about him.
“It’s all about moments and timing for me,” Berhalter adds. “He’s been playing so well that it’s only logical that he take this step now. I’m simply [interested] to see how he does with our group because I believe he’s a really good and composed player for his age. I believe he has the potential to have a significant effect.”
Although the United States’ men’s national team has always been “the next step,” Busio insists that Europe, particularly the Champions League, has always been his Mount Olympus, as Vermes agrees.
“”He and his parents [stated] his goal was to play in Europe when we sat down at breakfast before he signed,” Vermes remembers. It has been my responsibility to assist him in this endeavor.”
Imagine Andy Reid addressing Patrick Mahomes’ future intentions away from the Kansas City Chiefs, and you’ll get a sense of the strangeness of this.
“The most important thing to me is that he moves to a location where there is a genuine strategy for his next step in his career,” Vermes declares. “I don’t want this to simply be a transaction. He has so much more to do, and I want to see it happen. He, in my opinion, has a very, very high ceiling.”
He’s just scratched the surface of his potential, which is frightening.
“It’ll be like coming home for him if he travels to Italy,” Dionne says. “We spent our summers and Christmases in Italy with [Alessandro’s] family,…” She begins to stutter. “…I want him to be in a position to continue to develop as a player and a person. I just want him to be content.”
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