Rumors fly: Will Sporting KC’s Busio go overseas now? Player, coach address the chatter
Interest from European teams in Gianluca Busio is continuing to ramp up as the summer transfer window opens, but Sporting KC has yet to hold serious talks about moving the midfielder overseas, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Star Tuesday.
ESPN’s Taylor Twellman reported on June 4 that multiple Italian Serie A clubs have made bids for Busio. MLS writer Tom Bogert said a Dutch club has also inquired. Such rumors surfaced after Kansas City rejected an offer from Fiorentina last summer.
“I think there’s no surprise to me that people are interested in Busio,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “I think he’s a top-quality player all the way around. I think he’s got so many great things ahead of him, especially at such a young age.”
Busio, 19, said it makes him feel “pretty good” that he’s being linked with European teams but has no timeline regarding when he might leave KC.
“I’ve always said that I don’t want to put a timeframe on it. I just want when it’s right for everyone,” he said, “I can’t really put a timeline on it now. I don’t know. It could be next month and it could be in two more years, I don’t know.”
Busio has started all eight games for Kansas City in 2021. The club is second in the Western Conference. He’s scored two goals and assisted on one.
Neither Busio nor Vermes seems eager to secure a move to Europe as fast as possible.
Busio said on Tuesday that he trusts the club completely to do what is best for him. Vermes also reiterated a point he’s made since rumors first began circulating about Busio: that they would only sell Busio to a club with the youngster’s best interests in mind.
“It’s easy to go get a player, but what’s your plan for the player? That’s the key: How do you see the player, and where do you see them playing?” Vermes said. “Are you going to get him and then loan him out somewhere, are you going to get him and loan him back to us? OK, that’s maybe something that’s interesting, if your idea is about loaning.
“If you want to bring him to your club is he playing for you, what position is he playing, what are all those things?”
Amid the transfer rumors, Busio is also a candidate to be called up to the U.S. Men’s National Team for July’s Gold Cup. Busio hasn’t earned a senior team cap yet but has played for the U.S. at the U-15, U-17 and U-20 levels.
Busio said that he hasn’t heard anything from U.S. Soccer about a possible call-up, but Vermes is confident it will happen soon.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he can play at that level,” Vermes said. “At some point he’ll be on the national team, for sure. He’s that good.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Rumors fly: Will Sporting KC’s Busio go overseas now? Player, coach address the chatter."