by MaddFM.
When you hear the phrase “Italian-American”, it’s likely your mind drifts to The Godfather, The Sopranos or Fat Tony from The Simpsons and that’s perfectly reasonable...the last big-name Italian-American footballer on the scene was Giuseppe Rossi and though tipped for greatness when he joined Manchester United from the Parma Youth Academy in 2004, injuries and a lack of any consistent form saw him have a rollercoaster career with mixed success at the likes of Villareal and Fiorentina (not to mention 30 caps for Italy) before he eventually hung up his boots in 2022.
Enter Gianluca Cristiano Busio (yep that’s his middle name). Born in 2002 in North Carolina to an Italian father, Busio joined Sporting Kansas City at the age of 15 years old making him the youngest player to sign with an MLS club since Football Manager legend Freddy Adu joined DC United at the age of 14 in 2004. This in itself qualifies Busio for Wonderkid status right?
By 16 he had made his MLS debut and scored his first goal for the club in a 4-1 win away to Vancouver Whitecaps, before literally shooting to national recognition the following season scoring in 3 consecutive games and also shining at the U17 CONCACAF Tournament helping USA reach the final alongside another FM Wonderkid with European ties, Giovanni Reyna. By 19 Busio was called up for his first senior international cap and helped USMNT to win the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Busio finished that season with the highest stats in the team in terms of minutes (1,152), chances created (20), tackles won (22), duels won (76) and recoveries (97), and it wasn’t long before European clubs were starting to get wind of Busio’s existence with the likes of Man Utd, Barcelona, Fiorentina and Bayern Munich all reported to have sent scouts to watch him. However for one reason or another a move never materialised, and in 2021 it was newly promoted (and highly fashionable) Venezia FC in Italy’s Serie A who successfully obtained his signature for a fee of €6 million, a deal which saw him become their most expensive ever transfer signing.
Despite a relatively positive first season for him individually in which he made 29 appearances for I Leoni Ałati and scoring above average figures for Pass Completion, Successful Take Ons and finishing in the Top 10 in Serie A for most Successful Blocks made, it wasn’t enough to prevent them from being relegated back to Serie B however Busio has received widespread plaudits and interest largely based on his versatility and strength in midfield both defensively and in attacking phases for club and country, showing a clear and rare ability to play as a 6 or an 8 which is rare in a player of his age.
It should also be said - the boy takes a mean free-kick…
In Football Manager 2023 Busio is a ready-made midfielder for pretty much any mid-tier club and has the potential to be developed for elite level if given the right support & development in the right role. Having just turned 20 at the start of the game and sitting in Serie B, he is both affordable & attainable and looking at those attributes he is highly desirable as a midfielder - good tackling and positioning combined with strong passing and technique mean that he can be deployed in several roles depending on your tactical needs, and at that age there is plenty of runway to train and develop him in a specialist role either in the Defensive Midfield or Central Midfield strata.
As usual what is key here is the influence of human managers in FM versus AI Managers - I have seen him at varying clubs and levels across other people’s saves including Juventus, Tottenham, Porto and even West Brom at one point 😄. In my own save in 2027 he is a starter for Ajax in midfield alongside World Cup winner Alexis McAllister, German sensation Karim Adeyemi and FM23 Wonderkid Julian Duranville so it’s safe to say that Busio is a solid bet and well worth your attention in this year’s game…I guess the same can be said of him in real-life too judging by the company he keeps..not a bad midfield that 👀
Go on, make him an offer he can’t refuse 👌.
Thanks for reading - let us know if you have any Wonderkids you would like us to cover or if you are interested in profiling any specific players for our Wonderkid Watch series, you can drop us a DM on Twitter or reach out to MaddFM for more info.
