Philadelphia Union youngster Jack de Vries has completed a season-long loan deal to Serie A club Venezia FC, becoming the third young American to join the club this summer.
The 19 year-old Ohio native joins the ambitious, newly-promoted Serie A team after a grand total of four career appearances in MLS, all during the 2020 season. He has yet to take the field for the Union in the current MLS season due to being in recovery protocols after an earlier concussion, however his move to Italy for the season was confirmed by the team on Tuesday.
“Venezia FC is pleased to announce the signing of American midfielder Jack de Vries, 19, on loan from the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer,” the club announced on their website, continuing, “De Vries will join the club’s Primavera side for the 2021-22 season.”
His immediate placement in their Primavera, or youth, team for the season likely signals that he won’t take the field with fellow American teammates Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann anytime soon.
de Vries has previously spent time in Europe, joining the Anderlecht academy in Brussels for three years before linking up with the Union academy in 2015.
The Primavera squad competes in the 2a division of Italy’s youth league, and will begin their 26-game season directly after the international break.
He is not the only on-loan North American that Venezia have brought into their Primavera squad this summer, as he joins Canadian-Italian midfielder Damiano Pecile, who arrived on July 1.
Coincidentally, the new teammates have faced off against each other in international play, in a group-stage game of the 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, won by the US team by a 3-2 margin.
