Question of the Day: What is a fair price for a Busio transfer?

To generate a little conversation and debate in a friendly and civil manner….

A matter of time

We all know it is only a matter of time. At some point Gianluca Busio will join the inevitable exodus of young American homegrown talent transferring to Europe. We do not know when, where or what the transfer fee will be, but sometime in the very probable near future, we will get a notice that he is gone.

At that point some team in Europe will sell a few hundred jerseys with Busio on the back and ship them to the Midwest as Kansas City fans will have a new second (or third) favorite team to follow. Kansas City media will inevitably ask Peter Vermes who will replace Busio and he will answer there is a lot of players on the roster that can step into that role and they just need to step up. It will be a chance for them to show what they have. The media will continue to pester him with wanting to know if someone will be brought in with the money from the transfer fee and Vermes will say we are always working to improve the team. At some point he will get tired of answering those questions and say we are focused on the team we have, the next game and winning every competition we are in.

(And I won't blame him for getting tired of the questions...)

Busio is most often linked to teams in Italy. Portugal, Belgium is also currently in the mix (according to reports) and there is probably interest from many more places that have not been reported. I can almost guarantee that.

Since we do not where he will go for sure, and where he is best suited to play might be a future question, let’s ponder what his transfer fee “Should” be.

For reference, here is a list of most of the bigger names/transfer fees for Americans to Europe in the last few years. These are in rough order from most recent/highest transfer fee. The fee listed is from TransferMarkt.us and the number in parenthesis is from various news sources if they popped up quickly in a search. The transfer fee listed may or may not take into account incentives and sell on percentages either because those are not always equally reported.

Bryan Reynolds (20) from FC Dallas to AS Roma $7.43m (or $8.12m)

Tanner Tessmann (19) from FC Dallas to Venezia $4.1m

Caden Clark (18) from NY Red Bulls to RB Leipzig $2m (or $3m)

Brendon Aaronson (20) Philadelphia Union to RB Salzburg $6m

Mark McKenzie (21) Philadelphia Union to Genk $6m

Reggie Cannon (22) FC Dallas to Boavista $2.75m (or $3.25m)

Joe Scally (18) NYCFC to Borussia Mönchengladbach $2m

Chris Durkin (20) DC United to Sint-Truidense VV $1.1m

Zack Steffen (24) Columbus Crew to Man City $7.5m

Tyler Adams (19) NY Red Bulls to RB Leipzig $2.89m

Chris Richards (18) FC Dallas to FC Bayern U19 $1.21m

Comparing midfielders...

There are multiple players from FC Dallas, NY Red Bulls and Philadelphia Union. With the extra money Dallas receives from sales it is amazing they do not perform better on the field. Reynolds was generating interest before he even played and apparently, he is worth the extra ‘everybody needs outside backs that can go forward’ bonus.

Tessman is the most recent news with Venezia just announcing the transfer. He is a few months older than Busio and Venezia is rumored to also be interested in the SKC Homegrown midfielder. Tessman is a quality midfielder who just popped up to the first team last season and has two assists in 28 MLS games.

Clark is another one that made his debut last season, but he has a definite scoring touch. He can play all across the midfield and the wings and has an impressive 7 goals with two assists in just 16 MLS games.

Aaronson had seven goals with six assists in MLS for the Union in 57 games. A very good performance for a young player on a team that was stepping out of the shadows of the big teams in the East. Since joining Salzburg, he has not slowed down with seven goals and five assists in 25 games.

Busio has eight goals and nine assists for Sporting Kansas City across 70 games in all competitions for the first team. In that time he has played in multiple spots (wing, false nine, 8/10) but has been settling into the defensive mid role where he still contributes to the offense. It might be more accurate to say he starts the offense.

What is Busio’s transfer value?

There have been reports of offers up to $6.5 million for Busio. Sporting KC valued him at $10 million a couple years ago but that was pre-pandemic global shutdown and the resulting financial issues. Currently TransferMarkt has his value at $6.6 million but players often go for over (and under) those values. Tessman’s current value is $1.1 million but he just went for $4.1 million.

Is Aaronson the best comparison with similar numbers? Clark clearly was sold with a friendly wink-wink in house club discount from one Red Bull property to another. He should be worth more than the $2 or $3 million reported. If Tessman can pull $4 million should Busio be worth way more than that?

Will every appearance for the US Men’s National Team (assuming good performances) bump that up?