First it was Tanner Tessmann. Then it was Sam Vines. Now it's Gianluca Busio. Three homegrown players from Major League Soccer (two of whom, Tessmann and Busio, are teenagers) are leaving their clubs midseason for the brighter lights of European football. Tessmann and Busio are moving to Venezia FC, newly promoted to Italy's Serie A, and Vines is headed to Royal Antwerp in Belgium's first division.
These are novel moves in MLS. The biggest leagues across the Atlantic Ocean taking an interest in players from the United States and Canada is a trend that's continued since Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie broke out in the Bundesliga in 2016 and 2017, respectively.