Not even Venezia were sure what they were getting when they signed Tanner Tessmann from FC Dallas in 2021. The club’s general manager at the time, Alexander Menta, described the midfielder during an interview with Grant Wahl as “my big bet”. He loved Tessman’s size, athleticism and work ethic but those attributes alone do not make an elite soccer player. “Was it like a normal purchase where it was green lights all over the board? No,” said Menta. “And I told him the same thing.”
Tessmann had made his debut for the senior US men’s national team a few months earlier but would not represent them again until this September. The two-and-a-half years in between have been as winding as the canals that cut through Venice’s 126 islands. Now, though, it feels like he and his club may be finding their way out to the open water of the lagoon.
