Gianluca Busio, the Venezia midfielder, has been one of the few coherent figures in a chaotic start to the 2026-27 Serie A season, contributing two assists across four matches and carrying an average rating of 7.15 while the club around him has collected zero points from a possible twelve.
That individual consistency matters precisely because the team context is so bleak. Venezia sit bottom of Serie A after four defeats, having conceded eleven goals and scored four. When a side is leaking at that rate, a midfielder who is still creating rather than simply surviving deserves attention. Busio, 24, is not papering over structural cracks — no single player can — but he is demonstrating that his quality is not contingent on the team's fortunes.
The club's situation off the pitch is now as turbulent as its results on it. Giovanni Stroppa's position as head coach is under serious pressure, with Igor Tudor and Roberto D'Aversa both linked to the vacancy should Stroppa be dismissed. A managerial change mid-crisis is rarely the clean reset it is sold as, and for a player like Busio — who has built his early-season rhythm under Stroppa's system — the uncertainty carries real risk. New coaches bring new ideas about positional roles, pressing triggers, and who gets the ball in the half-spaces. A midfielder averaging above seven in a struggling side is exactly the kind of player a new coach should want to keep central to his plans, but that is never guaranteed.
Venezia's elimination from the Coppa Italia compounds the pressure. There is no secondary competition to rotate into, no softer fixture to rebuild confidence. Every match from here is a league match, and every league match currently ends in defeat.
An AI overall of 76 out of 100, with a potential of 80, suggests Busio has room to develop further — but development requires stability, and stability is precisely what Venezia cannot currently offer. The 24-year-old faces a fixture against Lazio next, a side in sharp form, and whatever coaching structure emerges around him may well be decided by what happens in that ninety minutes.
Busio is doing his part. The question is whether anyone at the club is doing theirs.