Gio Reyna’s impressive showing at Borussia Dortmund’s midseason winter training camp in Marbella, Spain has reportedly done enough to earn him a regular place with Dortmund’s first team.
Reyna will remain with the Dortmund first team as it resumes Bundesliga play, German outlet Ruhr Nachrichten reported on Monday.
Reyna has trained with Dortmund’s first team before, and even earned a place on the first-team bench for a Bundesliga match in the fall, but that appears ready to be a more regular occurrence after he made the most of the team’s recent training camp, which included him scoring a goal against Feyenoord in a preseason friendly.
Reyna had already been impressing regularly with Dortmund’s U-19 team, but his performances with the first team have him now on a path similar to Christian Pulisic, another American who passed through Dortmund’s system quickly.
He will still be able to train with Dortmund’s U-19s, but will stay with the first team for the foreseeable future.
“Gio is someone who is very, very far, who is mentally fit and can also tap his potential in pressure situations.” Dortmund scout and former player Otto Addo told Ruhr Nachrichten. “He plays carefree and with confidence, but is nevertheless down-to-earth outside the field. I’m just discussing details with him. He is already doing a lot of things right and I am excited to see what further development will look like.”
The New York City FC academy product and son of former U.S. Men’s National Team captain Claudio Reyna turned 17 in November, shortly after playing at the Under-17 World Cup. His showing at that World Cup didn’t come close to reaching the high expectations placed on Reyna beforehand, but he responded quickly by returning to Germany and continue to climb up the ranks at Dortmund.
Currently in fourth place in the Bundesliga, Dortmund sits in a fierce battle to maintain its place in the top four and returns to action in league play on Saturday against Augsburg.
So excited to see this…. and the noticeable surge in quality/numbers being developed. Our country is making progress in that regard- mostly due to pro development academies- creating a competitive, professional atmosphere at a younger age.
Regardless of if he plays RW, LW, or CAM for BvB, if he starts regularly seeing 1st team minutes at his club we could use him with the Sr. USMNT. Even if it’s as a backup/late sub to give opponents a different look.
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Our Winger Options/Depth is not exactly great at the moment….
1) Pulisic, 2) Morris, 3) Weah (Injured), 4) Arriola, 5) Boyd (Benched), 6) Sabbi 7) Zardes,
Than we have a bunch of Unproven players still with their club’s youth programs…
Llanez, De La Fuente, Taitague, Tillman, Akale
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Having young attacker who is versatile enough to play multiple positions would be a huge lift to a program that has struggled to create consistently from wide positions. Someone who can hopefully play opposite of Pulisic so teams can’t cheat to his side defensively.
Where do they have him playing? His dad could create. In my opinion, the first place the US needs to solve.
In the recent friendly, he played on RW, while Sancho was a LW. I’m not sure, where he plays in Dortmund U19s, but in the SBI’s player pool he’s on the winger depth chart. When he played in the US U17s, Wicky had him in the 10/attacking mid position.
Played both W and CAM during qualifying with better success out wide. Didn’t see the WC because I was in Africa at the time. BvB plays him on the RW with the first team and according to transfermkt both LW and CAM for the U19. From what I’ve seen he’s more a score first #10 than a create for others, but he’s 17 that could change as he develops.