Gillingham born Luis Binks is poised to switch Major League Soccer for Serie A after agreeing to move to Italy at the start of 2021.

After featuring for Montreal Impact in the MLS and the recent “MLS is back” tournament in Florida, Luis has signed a deal to join Italian giants Bologna in January on a four-year deal.

KSN has exclusively followed Luis’ Canadian adventure, and in our latest interview, we’ve been talking about an incredible couple of weeks for the eighteen-year-old defender.

“I’m buzzing,” Luis admitted. “I knew there was interest, and when a club as big as that and in a massive league like that come calling it’s hard to turn down. But when it was finally made official, I was over the moon as I could finally talk to everyone about it without it being a secret!”

“It’s a good contract length and hopefully across the four years, I’ll be able to develop massively, learn the language and win some trophies. I don’t think theres a better league out there that has produced as many good defenders as they have across the past thirty years I’d say.

“They have a good identity and it’s to defend first and foremost which I think is often forgotten about in today’s game.”

“It all seems very surreal,” Luis then confessed as the Italian move comes just a year after he was playing for Spurs under 23s side. He went on, “there is no guarantee I’m going to play when I get to Bologna. So, all I can do is to work hard each day and keep myself in top condition so when I do go to Italy, I’ll give myself the best chance.

“The first few months I expect to be very hard to break in as I’ll be joining the squad half way through their season so depending on how they are doing they may have a fixed starting eleven who they don’t like to dismantle.”

Luis explained how the move came about. “Bologna and Montreal are sister clubs, so the owner of Montreal also owns Bologna! Theres a few players here who are on loan from Bologna so there is a clear relationship.

“I knew there was interest when I signed but I made it clear I wanted to play first team games and Bologna, being in one of the best leagues in the world, couldn’t guarantee that and so I chose to come to Montreal as I knew if I worked hard there may be more of a chance. I’ve come to Canada and played eight games and must have impressed!”

“I’ve been watching Bologna very closely for a few games and they play some great football and have a lot of players who have played at the very top for a long, long time so it seems a good group. Also, the manager Siniša Mihajlović is someone who had a great career, so I’ll look forward to working with him.

“They seem to be on the up as they have a new training ground which I’ve visited and a new stadium which is soon to be built – it’s all very exciting!”

“I’ve been learning a little bit of Italian but it’s going to take some work – I know I’ve got to pull my finger out!”

Meanwhile, Luis will remain in Canada with Montreal until the conclusion of the MLS season, arguably with unfinished business to complete. “It’s a chance for me to play some more games and get some more vital experience under my belt and like you say unfinished business.

“I also think I owe it to the club and to the fans to stay here as it’s been a very weird year and I want to see it out and get in the Play Offs to give the club something to smile about. I don’t think it would be right for me to move on without seeing it through; that wouldn’t be right for myself or for the club and fans.”

Impact lost in the “MLS is back” tournament to the eventual runners up Orlando who’s run to the Final was inspired by the former Portugal and Manchester United forward Nani – nonetheless it was a defeat that left Luis frustrated. “the manner in which the goal came could’ve easily been avoided. We rode our luck for a lot of the game and like I say to go out to that goal was horrible.”

He went on, “it was great (to face players like Nani) and that’s the whole reason I came to the MLS to play against players who have been at the top all their life; won Premier Leagues; won Champions Leagues; FA Cups; European Championships; and playing against players of his ability will only help me to develop!”

“We’re preparing for the restart of our season next month and we’ve just had the next six fixtures announced. Because of the travelling restrictions between the US and Canada, we’ve got three games with Vancouver (two away and one at home) and three against Toronto (two at home and one away). This way it’ll take a month to complete and hopefully by then we can come to an agreement with the government to travel to and from America.”