Bryan Reynolds has endured a frustrating time with AS Roma so far this season, but the young fullback is now on his way to Belgium in search of the consistent playing time he needs to continue developing his considerable talent.
Belgian Pro League side Kortrijk has acquired Reynolds on loan for the rest of the season, the club announced Sunday. Reynolds joins Brendan Hines-Ike and Erik Palmer-Brown as former American players to play for Kortrijk in recent seasons.
The 21-year-old earned a transfer to AS Roma in January 2021, but has only made eight combined appearances under manager Jose Mourinho. Reynolds started once in the UEFA Conference League and has made one Serie A appearance this season after making five league appearances for Roma last season.
Belgian sides Club Brugge and Anderlecht were also linked with Reynolds this winter, but Kortrijk edged its league rivals for his signature. Sources tell SBI that Anderlecht had planned on signing Reynolds to replace former New York Red Bull Michael Murillo, but Murillo wound up staying, which lead to Reynolds landing at Kortrijk.
A former FC Dallas academy product, Reynolds totaled 31 appearances and six assists in MLS before moving abroad. He also made his U.S. men’s national team debut in March 2021 and since has earned two caps under head coach Gregg Berhalter.
Kortrijk sits in eighth place in the Pro League standings, totaling 33 points in its opening 22 matches. The Belgian Pro League will not pause for the upcoming FIFA international break, meaning Reynolds could make his club debut on Wednesday against Sporting Charleroi.
While not a fan of the Belgium league, Reynalds needed a change to somewhere he could get consistent 1st team minutes. If this happens at Kortrijk than it’s a step in the right direction, especially since Mourinho was never going to play him. His best option right now is to get playing time/experience at Kortrijk and use that to catch the eye of a club in a higher level legue.
he’s under contract, not free. the flaw in the analysis is he risks entering loan heck. the tension is usually that the sort of team that can start a prestige young american and platform them on to bigger things wants them on loan and doesn’t want to pay the transfer fee. the sort of team that can afford them often can only offer subbing or apprenticeship. this is why i push for young players to calibrate their transfer choices smartly. roma sounds nice to a snob but it rarely works out well. we then have this over-optimistic annual ritual of maybe this loan stint impresses the parent or the loan team or someone else.
this is why i am big on pick it right the first time. to be fair, i think USMNT should be picked more on sheer talent, less on perceived form, but that’s my wish and the current coach is very much following the career roller coasters up and down on small time increments. so one does well within the pool to be the one well positioned on their career. plenty of meh players nudging aside better ones because of playing time.
the response is usually loans like this offer playing time, but the problem is unless they buy the clock resets in the summer and we have this same conversation over again.