Busio: “Definitely at some point, I want to be in Europe”

Gianluca Busio is still just a 16-year-old kid who is preparing to go into his second season as a professional soccer player for Sporting Kansas City. Despite that, in an interview with Daniel Sperry, Busio has high hopes for his future.

“You can see that I’m in the same spot that Tyler Adams was two years ago,” Busio said. “A 16-year-old, playing in MLS, getting a couple games in, and now he’s in the Bundesliga. I think of it as, why can’t that be me? Now teams are coming to MLS to look for younger players, so that’s exciting for me, really. Just knowing that teams are going to be looking, and I think I’m in a good spot right now, in a professional league, to show them what I can do.”

When The Blue Testament caught up with Busio after the team’s final preseason game on Wednesday, we had to ask him if that meant in two years he planned to be in Europe.

“I’m not going to say where I’m going to be in two years,” started Busio with a smile and a shrug. “I don’t know what could happen. Anything could happen... Definitely at some point, I want to be in Europe. That’s just my ambition as a soccer player to make it big in the Champions League and all that.”

Just a month ago at the 2019 MLS SuperDraft Taylor Twellman got the internet stirring with his comment that, “I’d be shocked if Busio is [at Sporting KC] much longer.” He went on to say that a lot of people were calling about Busio’s services.

TBT asked Peter Vermes about that comment and he replied emphatically.

“Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about. I’ve never even heard that,” said Vermes. “Nobody has ever approached the club, or any of us, nothing like that ever.”

Even if they aren’t calling now, Busio seems fairly confident they’ll be calling in the future. None of this comes as a surprise to most observers who noted Busio wouldn’t be long for this league when he was signed before the 2017 roster freeze. This just further confirms what many people are thinking.

That said, Major League Soccer is growing fast. The spending in the league has climbed significantly in recent years and maybe, as MLS continues to flourish, players like Busio will want to stay longer than they originally planned.

The Full Interview

Video of our interview and a bug attack on Busio are included in the video below. He also takes the time to talk about several other topics, including:

• His thoughts on the final preseason game (a 1-1 draw against the Houston Dynamo)
• His feelings about Vermes’ plan for him and the other “kids” for 2019
• What video games he’s playing (FIFA 19 and Fortnite)

In FIFA 19 he and Jaylin Lindsey are roommates and are playing with Johnny Russell’s former club, Derby County, as they try to win a spot in the Premier League from the English Championship. I also had to ask who is better at FIFA and without skipping a beat, of course, he said it’s him over Lindsey.